Former Limerick star Shane Dowling feels there’s a straightforward way to deal with diving in the GAA.

The last few weeks have saw diving becoming a major topic of discussion, with the first few rounds of the Allianz Leagues seeing various examples of players going down too easily for frees in both codes.

Speaking on the RTE GAA podcast, Dowling feels that those that are caught diving should face match bans.

“It's embarrassing for the person that gets sent off because they did nothing wrong, but it's more embarrassing for the person who threw themselves on the ground.

“It's actually always been in the game, there's no point saying otherwise. It may not have been as prominent as it is now, but it has always been in the game...

“If that is you or your teammate, afterwards it is embarrassing for you. People don't go up and give you a clap on the back and say 'well done, you got your man sent off'...

"It's embarrassing for the person sent off, but it's more embarrassing for the person who jumps to the ground..." - Shane Dowling has his say on the diving debate.

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“If a player gets sent off because an official thinks they have hit someone and they've gone to ground, within days that player should get a phone call to apologise. The player that did go down should just get punished.

“I don't see why they make a big drama of these things. As far as I'm concerned, these things are very simple. If somebody gets a player sent off by jumping to the ground when they shouldn't be, they should be subsequently banned.

“If a player gets sent off because the referee thinks he has hit somebody, it should be rescinded within a couple of days.

“Nobody likes it. I guarantee you one thing, if you are that player that jumps to the ground, you are embarrassed afterwards. You'd want to be a fair cold person not to be.”

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