'Inter-county players tackle a lot, lot harder than they used to'

Tipperary’s motion to define a ‘melee’ will go to Congress later this month - on Sunday, Galway and Mayo had a go at defining it themselves.

Mayo finished with 13 men after Cillian and Diarmuid O'Connor saw red, while midfielder Paul Conroy walked for the Tribesmen in a bad-tempered Allianz Football League Division 1 clash at Pearse Stadium.

The League Sunday panel, Tomás Ó Sé and Sean Cavanagh, said poor self discipline and petulance were rife in a scrappy contest.

"It got messy," Ó Sé said. "There is a problem with the way people tackle now. Inter-county players tackle a lot, lot harder than they used to. 

"They're physically bigger men, they're physically stronger men. 

"If you bend low into a tackle, chances are you're going to get it around the neck."

Looking at Cillian O'Connor's flashpoint with Eoghan Kerin which saw the Mayo man sent off, Cavanagh said: "Cillian's wasn't a tackle. It was petulance."