By Kenneth Fox
There was a very unusual decision from a referee in a Dublin Senior Football Championship game last night. He disallowed a goal because a player was not wearing his gumshield when he scored.
In a game between Skerries Harps and Thomas Davis, the referee ruled out a goal from Thomas Davis forward Sean Fennelly because he saw that he was not wearing his gumshield when he ran by him.
The game ended up finishing 3-7 to 1-10 in favour of Skerries Harps. The team from South Dublin though were less than happy with the outcome seeing as one of their goals was overturned.
In a video posted on Twitter by OnPoint Performance Analysis, you can see the referee allows the play to continue but strikes out the goal after he scores.
The ruling around wearing a gumshield is that if a player is not wearing one they should be cautioned i.e. given a yellow card and if they continue to not wear one they should be sent off.
The only other similar incident to this was in 2018 when a Kildare footballer was sent off for a second yellow because he was not wearing his gumshield.