Former Tyrone forward Peter Canavan feels referees need to start making an example of players involved in sledging the opposition in order to stamp out the practice.
Canavan joined Off The Ball and former Mayo manager James Horan on the show tonight to look back at a compelling match between Donegal and Tyrone in the Ulster championship, but he was disappointed with the way off the ball incidents and verbals spoiled things.
"There were some great passages of play but I think it was spoiled by that negativity. At various stages, it interrupted the game, there was wrestling matches going on and it was very obvious from the start that there were verbals going on and Sean [Cavanagh] was right. It was both sides," he said.
Cavanagh also disagreed with any suggestions that sledging and verbals cannot be policed more effectively by referees, citing an example from his own playing days.
"A few years ago, I remember Pat McEnaney refereeing a match that I was playing in and he was well aware that there was some boy in my ear and [Pat] was 30 or 40 yards away and he came over right away. He wouldn't have known what was said, but immediately he booked him.
"Referees are going to have to make an example of somebody sooner or later and I think it will put an end to it."
Meanwhile, Horan felt that yesterday's clash between Donegal and Tyrone may be a "worst case scenario" because "two proponents of the dark arts playing yesterday".
He was also surprised that the Red Hand County stood off Donegal in the early stages of the first half, while Canavan reckons Donegal's Michael Murphy is best deployed on the edge of the square.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
