Byrne furious with old mate
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CONAN Byrne was pulling no punches in his post-match condemnation of former teammate Anto Murphy, after the Bohs star won his side a soft late penalty at Dalymount Park on Friday night.
The Sporting attacker could not conceal his anger at his old UCD colleague and accused the Bohs star of cheating the referee.
'I was standing beside the referee when he went down and I actually thought he was going to give a free out and book Murphy for diving,' insisted Byrne.
The post-match interview room can be a highly strung place. Journalists swarm in numbers around players, some still to shower and bearing the grass, muck and blood stains of the battle they've just come from and yet to mentally emerge from, in the hope of headline grabbing quotes. It's an ancient art that has oft left many footballers regretting their words.
Last Friday in Dalymount was no different, except this time the headline grabbing quotes came from Conan Byrne speaking exclusively to the Fingal Independent, a player well versed in the devious arts of the headline-hunting hack.
Byrne chooses his words carefully, so when he speaks they have weight. More weight, one suspects, than the phantom push felt by Anto Murphy 76 minutes into last Friday's first ever meeting between the current respective league and cup champions.
'I know Anto from our days together at U.C.D, but I couldn't even look at him at the end, I just blanked him. He's got a reputation of being a jumper and a diver and referees should be more aware of it. It was never a penalty – we're all gutted.'
Television replays have since proven Conan right and it remains to be seen whether any action will be taken against Murphy.
While Byrne feels aggrieved at how the opening episode of this season's League of Ireland soap opera was concluded, he does acknowledge that Sporting Fingal can take heart from their performance.
'We had plenty of chances and I'm delighted with the performance. This season we need to bring our A game to every match. We need consistency, something that was missing last season. We would have strolled the league if we had that last year.'
A win or a draw would have signalled Sporting's arrival on the biggest stage of all, in the words of Byrne. 'That is football – the bad part,' he added.
- Kevin BRANNIGAN
