Kieran McGeeney believes the choice of referee could have a 'big bearing' on the outcome of the upcoming All-Ireland SFC semi-final between Dublin and Tyrone.

Speaking after his Armagh side were swatted aside by the Red Hands yesterday, McGeeney remarked: "Depending on how a referee sees the tackling, it can go for you or it can go against you. Those particular things can have a big difference in a semi-final. I know when they played Kerry during the league, there were a lot of scoreable frees given that day.

"But then in the championship to date, there hasn't been too many. Small things like that can make a big difference."

McGeeney felt Armagh contributed to their own downfall by giving away possession far too cheaply in the early stages.

"In the first 15 minutes we had 82 or 83 per cent turnovers in our attack. That meant four out of every five attacks the ball was coming straight back so you're doubling your workload, while they're halving their workload. That builds up. They ended up with an eight-point deficit and we never really recovered from that," he admitted.

"Any mistake, they pounced on it. I think they had a 65 per cent shooting accuracy compared to 30 per cent for us. There's a whole lot of things that add up to the result. It wasn't a good day at the office for the boy,s but I do believe they're better than that."

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