Cavan referee Brian Crowe has expressed his disappointment at the reaction to John Bannon's decision to overlook John Miskella's indiscretion in Cork's All-Ireland semi-final win over Tyrone. Bannon decided against upgrading Miskella's yellow card to a red on reviewing a video tape of the player striking out at Brian McGuigan, and while the decision received mixed reviews, the retiring Longford official didn't have to endure the same criticism or suffer the same consequences as Crowe did when he was caught up in a similar controversy in the 2007 All-Ireland semi-final between Cork and Meath. Crowe was asked to review footage of an incident involving Noel O'Leary and Graham Geraghty, and like Bannon, decided against upgrading O'Leary's yellow card to a red, which meant that he didn't miss the All-Ireland final against Kerry. Since then, Crowe has been overlooked for all the major matches and is still angry at the manner in which he was hung out to dry. "Even the dogs in the street know it was the end for me as regards big matches," he told the Belfast Telegraph. "You only have to look at the handful of games I subsequently got. "John Bannon's stepping down from refereeing now and he won't suffer the fate that befell me. "Basically what I was being asked to do was put a player out of an All Ireland final, but as far as I was concerned the offence didn't merit anything more than a yellow card. "Ultimately I was the one that suffered. This is my final year of refereeing at national level. "To be truthful in the light of all that's happened I'm glad to be finishing up." The 2006 All-Ireland final referee added: "I've nothing left to prove to anyone, but I will continue to referee at juvenile, minor and senior and whatever here in my own county and will still be available to the Ulster Council for all championship matches. "I've always felt comfortable working with good people in my own province." Tweet

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