Shane McGrath: Galway's problems run deeper than any red card

Shane McGrath says that Galway can't pin Sunday's defeat to Dublin on David Burke's red card.

The Tribesmen exited the championship at the hands of the Sky Blues for the second time in six seasons yesterday following a six-point defeat at Pearse Stadium.

Burke was sent off for a late, high challenge on Fergal Whitely with the decision by referee Colm Lyons splitting opinion all over the country.

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RTÉ GAA panelists Jackie Tyrrell and Donál Óg Cusack saw it differently, while managers Micheál Donoghue and Henry Shefflin came down on opposite sides on what colour the card should have been.

McGrath says that Galway would have been struggling to get a result even with 15 men on the field.

"In real time I said to [commentator] Liam Aherne that David Burke was going to be in trouble," he said on the latest RTÉ GAA Podcast.

"When you look back on the replays we can all see that a yellow would have done. Burke, who is one of Galway's greatest hurlers, gave Lyons a decision to make that he didn't need to. In real time I though it was a red too.

"Galway's problems don't lie with David Burke getting sent off yesterday. They lie much earlier in this round robin and even in the league."

The Tribesmen had a rough Leinster campaign with a battling draw against Kilkenny the highlight. They managed victories against Carlow and Antrim but suffered a first championship reversal against Wexford since 1996.

With a place in the provincial final on the line yesterday, McGrath says it was a case of