One of the moments of controversy from last week's All-Ireland semi-final replay between Dublin and Mayo was the black card issued to the latter's midfielder Seamus O'Shea early in the second half. James addressed that decision on Off The Ball.
"It was incredibly harsh on Seamus. It was just a petulant moment. It wasn't a fist or it wasn't a punch or anything like that. It was just a bit of frustration.
"There was nothing cynical about it whatsoever. It was incredibly harsh for a guy doing really well and getting on a lot of ball. You look at it from a Mayo point of view and he's a real powerhouse and boy did we miss him when he went.
"It wasn't a black card, not at all in my opinion. We've talked about this throughout the year. The black card is upside-down really. We've seen yellow cards given depending on [the situation], when there's a black card already given to another player and the ref wants to calm it down and doesn't want to give too many black cards.
"Black cards are being given out depending on circumstances and depending on where games are. It's so hard to predict when a black card will be given and that for me was a yellow card at most, tick him and move the game on! That would have been the right call for me."
James was speaking on Off The Ball:
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