Former Tyrone star Ryan McMenamin says the county feel that Tiernan McCann has been 'crucified' after being hit with a proposed eight-week ban after diving against Monaghan.
McCann was charged with 'misconduct that is considered to have discredited the association' after the incident that led to the sending off of Darren Hughes in the counties' All-Ireland SFC quarter-final, which Tyrone won by four points.
"If you chat to any Gael in Tyrone, they didn't agree with what Tiernan did but at the same time, he's a young fella. He made a mistake," McMenamin told RTÉ's Saturday Sport.
"Tyrone probably think he is being crucified.
"He did do it, and he should be punished but him being punished now when there have been other indiscretions throughout the year that went unpunished makes it feel a wee bit unjust.
"No one in Tyrone is saying what he did was right, he probably went home and his father Terry gave him a clip across the ear.
As to suggestions that The Sunday Game had unfairly criticised Tyrone after the Monaghan game, McMenamin said: "I thought it [the analysis] was maybe over the top.
"The view that was taken in Tyrone was that there were two teams in it and there were a couple of Monaghan incidents that were brushed over.
"I thought Tyrone had the game won in the last ten minutes and they tried to close it out in the wrong way. Monaghan played their best football in the last ten minutes.
"It's something Tyrone are going to have to look that and ask themselves is that the right way to close the game out."
"A lot of people in Tryone felt that it was a bit unjust and a bit over the top. It's probably creating a siege mentality and that's something you don't want in the wider picture."
McMenamin was part of a Saturday Sport panel which discussed the wider issue of refereeing standards and discipline in the GAA along with Monaghan star Conor McManus, Chairman of the GAA referees development committee Sean Walsh and eight-time All-Ireland winner Eddie Brennan of Kilkenny.
Listen in full to the discussion below.
