It is in its fucking hole. Coldrick can’t make up his own rules. Nugent and Kelly did absolutely nothing to deserve red cards. Bottom line was no one should have been sent off bar the gouger and the galway lad who lamped him. It was a disgraceful decision by coldrick.
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Was this an agreement with the sides or what? PJ was livid talking to Coldrick before the start of extra time
The high likelihood is Coldrick didn’t see Kelly massaging Comer’s face or the assault which followed it by the Galway player.
Going to view some video footage of the brawl before the resumption of play might have been the most logical solution.
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The Sunday Game said they were sent off for contributing to a melee.
It has been speculated on TFK, a more trusted source, that they were sent off as part of some captaincy compromise.
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In the particular context of this situation, where it was after the end of normal time, and there was a gap to the extra time, it seems logical.
But I presume it’s against the rules?
I very much doubt it. Seems obvious Coldrick took the decision himself. And he can send off any two players he likes.
Nugent was a massive loss for Armagh with that bullshit decision, had he scored 1-2?
I was correct about the tickets anyway 
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Is it a rule ?
Is what Coldrick did against any rule?
No, it isn’t. He sent off two players.
Ok mate. Great logic.
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At least they had the choice of 2 players unlike Galway
Coldrick missed a lot but he got a lot right too. I don’t blame him for the 2 cards, he had to do something. Just bizzarre the 2 lads he did send off did sfa to deserve it.
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What offences did coldrick send them off for? It has to be in the match report
The referee cannot make up rules no more than a policeman can do so. It was his job to implement the rules and safeguard the players
If Coldrick has no proper justification for sending off the two players, he should be removed from the referees panel
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Contributing to a melee
If a man is hauled down in the box but he’s not sure who committed the foul is he entitled to book anyone he wants?
When you boil it down it’s a similar enough logic on which Pat McEneaney sent off two players in 1996.
He too could have sent off any two of about 20.
A refereeing law of the jungle applies in these situations. The ref can’t see all of what happens. He might see a small fraction of what happens and is liable or likely to miss the real flashpoints which are picked out for endless video analysis.
McEneaney knew two players had to go. Coldrick knew two players had to go. Some sort of order had to be imposed.
In '96 it was widely opined that Mayo suffered more than Meath did because McHale and Coyle were selected arbtrarily from any of about 20 players and McHale was more important to Mayo than Coyle was to Meath.
Sean Kelly and Aidan Nugent were in and around the fight. They’re the captains. There’s an equivalency of loss in terms of importance to their teams. They were selected.
It’s not fair because nothing could be fair in this situation. There was no fair solution. Coldrick didn’t cause the fight. It was chaos. I’ve every sympathy for him in that situation.