Cork intend to appeal Eoin Downey's red card

Cork manager Pat Ryan has confirmed that his side will appeal a red card shown to Eoin Downey in his side's Allianz Hurling League Division 1 semi-final defeat to Kilkenny.

The Rebels were well beaten by Kilkenny at Nowlan Park, losing 2-22 to 0-22 in a game in which they never led.

To rub salt into the wounds, Downey was shown a red card for his part in a second-half fracas which could potentially rule him out of his county’s Championship opener against Waterford on 30 April.

With Cork already trailing by six points midway through the second-half there was a flashpoint involving up to 20 players and when the dust settled, referee John Keenan showed yellow cards to Paddy Deegan and Timmy Clifford [Kilkenny] and Cork’s Robert Downey and Tommy O’Connell along with a red card for Eoin Downey.

The reason from the sending-off was unclear from television pictures and speaking to RTÉ Sport, Ryan confirmed that his side will lodge an appeal against the decision.

He said: "I think everyone saw that there was maybe 20 or 25 fellas inside it, so for one fella to be picked out and sent-off was very unfair.

"He might miss the Championship out of a league game for something very innocuous.

"We’ll be appealing that and we’ll see what we can get for that. We’ll have a look at the video and see if there’s any grounds for appeal."

Sunday Game analyst and Limerick All-Ireland winner Shane Dowling believes that any potential appeal should be successful and he was at a loss as to the reason that Downey was given his marching orders.

"This shows nothing to us to suggest he should have got a red card," he said. "There was a couple of other camera angles but it still showed nothing to me.

"From my perspective, from what I have seen, he should not have