With referees under as much scrutiny as ever with a number of high profile incidents throughout the 2026 season, the performance of one official has been praised
Gabriel Bannigan hailed the performance of referee Paul Faloon after his side coasted to a nine-point victory over Roscommon in Clones on Saturday.
With referees under as much scrutiny as ever with a number of high profile incidents throughout the 2026 season, Paul Faloon drew praise from Bannigan for letting the game flow as much as possible.
Indeed, Jack McCarron’s free on 66 minutes was the first and only free scored in the entire game with just two yellow cards issued.
When asked if he preferred Faloon’s no-nonsense style, Bannigan replied: “100 per cent.
“This is Championship football. We’re all reared on Championship football.
“The players want the game to flow. I think Paul is an excellent referee. Paul will pull what has to be pulled, but he’s not going to be whistling every little thing and he’s consistent.
“He does the same for both teams. That’s what players want, that’s what management want, that’s what supporters want. So fair play to Paul.
“I didn’t know he (Jack McCarron) was the only one. Monaghan and Roscommon are two footballing teams. There’s not much need to blow the whistle too much.”
The Farney raced into a five-point lead playing with the wind with Stephen Mooney finding the net.
After becoming accustomed to chasing games, Monaghan were controlled and assured in possession as they closed the game out in ruthless fashion as a Roscommon fightback never materialised.
“Look, we targeted getting off to a better start than we did against Mayo,” added Bannigan.
“We were very disappointed with our first half performance against Mayo. I think we definitely brought a lot of the learnings from that game out there today, particularly the way we defended in the second half against the breeze, because that was the problem in our first half performance against Mayo the last day.
“We didn’t defend well against the breeze and Mayo kicked six two-pointers in the first half. “That gave us a mountain to climb in the second half, which we nearly climbed because of the character that we have in that dressing room and the quality we have in the team. But we were unlucky not to get over the line the last day.
“So we took that hurt out there today and we targeted a 70-minute performance. I was very happy we got a 70-minute performance.”
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