Declan Bonner believes Donegal were hard done by in Killarney on Sunday with Kerry’s winning score coming after a double hop by Daithi Casey.
The game was deep in added time when Casey clipped over the winning point. Kerry claimed a 2-18 to 3-14 and Donegal were left vexed.
Bonner revealed that he made his feeling known to Paddy Neilan, the referee.
“I saw it at the time and went to the referee,” Bonner said.
“I told him that it would show up that he was wrong. There’s a long season ahead, swings and roundabouts, and we might get a decision down the line somewhere.
“Naturally we were disappointed that we didn’t get at least a point. I thought that we deserved something, but you have to earn it.”
Donegal goalkeeper Peter Boyle, who came on as a first-half replacement for the injured Mark Anthony McGinley, was clear about his view.
“It was definitely a double hop, but there’s no good going on at the ref’ – once it goes over the bar he’s not changing his mind,” the Ballyshannon man said.
Perhaps irking the Donegal camp more was that one of the umpires, who would have had a similar view to Boyle, had drawn Neilan’s attention to a first-half incident that led to the sending off of Donegal midfielder Nathan Mullins.
Bonner said: “The umpire saw it from 80 or 90 yards away and, as someone said, he couldn’t see a double-hop from 25.
“He went whole way up the field. Again for Nathan Mullins, it’s a learning curve. There was a lot of media attention on him.
“It was a big blow to lose him.”
