'He's adamant there's a stamp': Oran Kearney gives view on Ballymena United red card dished out in Larne defeat

Stephen O’Donnell was adjudged to have brought down Jordan McEneff and Matty Lusty inside a damaging half-hour for the Sky Blues while striker Success Edogun was given his marching orders for kicking out at Aaron Donnelly five minutes after the break.

Here’s what Kearney had to say after the match:

TOUGH ONE – HOW DO YOU REFLECT ON THAT?

"I thought on Tuesday night we were a yard off it, two yards off it nearly.

"You're worried sort of coming in to today that it was our fifth game in 14 days, would it be worse?

"Honestly, I thought our performance up until the red card, and the red card probably hurts us where we can't be as expansive and we can't maybe go and try and get after them as much, but I thought our first half performance was a lot stronger than Tuesday night.

"But in the midst of it all, there's just two penalties. I think the first one, I don't know, the second one's a stonewall penalty.

"Stevie's (O’Donnell) involved in both, he said the first one he feels he's there first or at least at the same time.

"The second one, there's no issue with, but it leaves you an uphill struggle and it leaves it a tough enough task to go and try and chase.”

MANNER OF GOALS MOST DISAPPOINTING ASPECT?

"That's the frustrating part (two penalties).

"We knew where Larne have been at for the last couple of weeks, that confidence hasn't been high.

"Even if we turn around at nil-nil it’s not the end of the world at half-time, because you know you can go and have a good rattle at it with the wind in the second half.

"Particularly the first penalty, probably if it is very dubious or a 50-50 one, the longer it stays nil-nil, the more chance you have of probably seeing out that first period. And then the red card as well.

"We're only five minutes into the second half. Ideally, the pitch is horrible, but the conditions of the breeze have made it very hard for the team playing in the breeze in both fixtures we've had with Lauren in the last couple of weeks.

"I suppose it just feels like we've let them off the hook with that.

"You go down to 10 men, five minutes into the second half, and it's very, very hard then to go and have a real go at it.”

WHAT’S YOUR VIEW ON THE RED CARD?

"He's definitely lashed out, which would definitely be a red card.

"He's adamant there's a stamp and there's contact before that, and for me, why lash out?

"To me, if there's a stamp, and it's what players do nowadays, scream and roll, because that seems to work for everybody.

"And sadly, it's just the greenness that I find in our squad at the minute, there's a lot of young players, a lot of players who are finding their way in the game.

"And to me, if there was contact made like that, you're thinking, ‘bingo’ – the last thing you do is get sent off.

"If there was a stamp, and if the stamp has been made, and by all accounts it has, the last thing we should do is end up 10 against 11 for 40 minutes if we've been the player they've stamped on.

"That's just that little bit of greenness and that little bit of naivety that, to be honest, I've seen an abundance of since I've got here.”