Monaghan's Darren Hughes has responded to his controversial dismissal against Tyrone where he saw red following Tiernan McCann's shameful dive.
McCann launched himself to the ground after Hughes made contact with his hair in the closing stages of Tyrone's 0-18 to 0-14 All-Ireland Championship quarter-final win. The dive resulted in referee Marty Duffy producing a straight red card.
Hughes' was one of three players to receive red cards from Duffy, who also handed out two black cards and a total of 13 bookings throughout the contentious encounter.
Monaghan have confirmed that the red card will be appealed and, speaking to the Examiner, Hughes expressed his disbelief following his dismissal saying that the referee was "looking straight at it".
I genuinely couldn’t believe it. I knew straight away there was no point arguing with Marty Duffy, he wasn’t going to change his decision.
All three parties are probably accountable for what happened, myself, McCann and the referee. But it was a far cry from a sending-off. No way.
Hughes also said that despite the criticism the dive probably "paid off" for McCann, as it resulted in Hughes being forced to leave the field and Tyrone seeing out a four-point victory.
It's hard to argue with Hughes' assessment, while no one covered themselves in glory in the incident, both McCann and Duffy received fierce criticism from pundits and fan's alike.
None the less, the Ulster Champions made their exit while McCann and Tyrone will meet Kerry in the All-Ireland Football Championship semi-final on the 23rd of August.
