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Kenny Shiels says match official was on "Facebook or Twitter or whatever" after conceding decisive penalty

Derry City manager Kenny Shiels last night voiced his disgust with a penalty decision that contri...



Kenny Shiels says match offici...
Soccer

Kenny Shiels says match official was on "Facebook or Twitter or whatever" after conceding decisive penalty

Derry City manager Kenny Shiels last night voiced his disgust with a penalty decision that contributed to his side missing out on a place in the FAI Cup final.

The Candystripes were beaten 2-1 by Premier Division champions Dundalk in a replay of Sunday's semi-final in which finished 2-2.

Derry led thanks to Ronan Curtis' opener after just three minutes, but before the half was over Robbie Benson tumbled in the box and the penalty was duly converted by the Lilywhites' form player, Ciaran Kilduff.

Shiels was exasperated by the decision and speaking to the Derry Journal after the game, said that the official behind the goal, Paul Tuite, was on his phone while helping to award the penalty. 

"If I’m wrong I’ll hold my hand up but from where I was, he’s cut and went over and fell and the fourth official or whatever you call those guys around the goalmouth - I think he was on the phone at the time, maybe I’m wrong," Shiels said.

"He looked to be on the phone. I don’t know whether he was on Facebook or Twitter or whatever it was. But certainly the guy just rolled over and what do you do?"

The result brings their run to five games in all competitions without a win, with a trip to Longford coming up before home ties against Bohemians and Sligo Rovers over the next two weeks.

"But let’s be positive about it, we’ve four games left and we will not lie down to anybody and the players showed tremendous effort, Let’s talk about the good things and not the misdemeanours and the poor decision making by officials.

"We can’t talk about that, it’s not in our remit. Let’s talk about the performance and I’m really disappointed for the players."

Dundalk will now meet Cork City in a replay of last year's final and Dundalk continue their quest to defend both the Premier Division title and the FAI Cup.

Stephen Kenny's side currently lead the league by four points over Cork and are also second in their group in the Europa League, two points adrift of Zenit St Petersburg. 

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