Rodney McAree gives verdict on Declan Dunne red card and insists Dungannon Swifts 'have to respond' from Ballymena United defeat

The Swifts, fresh off securing their spot in the Irish Cup semi-finals, were dealt a double hammer blow in the early stages at Stangmore Park when Dunne was shown a straight red card for taking out Calvin McCurry – referee Michael McKenna deeming the Dungannon shot-stopper to be the last man and denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Ballymena took immediate advantage as Patrick McEleney’s superb free-kick put the visitors ahead just seconds after Dunne’s dismissal before second half strikes from Jordan McMullan and Success Edogun sealed Sky Blues success.

“Not really, no,” said McAree when asked if he’d any complaints about the decision. "The only thing I would say is Danny Wallace is getting around the back and he is the one that picks the ball up.

"I understand that Decky is caught in no man’s land and he has made the decision which has gave away a free-kick and the referee has reacted off that.

"When Danny is picking up the second ball off the incident then we maybe have to look at was he the last man or had we covering defenders?

"It’s difficult when you go down to 10 men, but I think we invited the red card decision onto us in terms of how we started the game.

"We invited pressure onto ourselves, we didn’t put enough pressure on the ball and in the early stages of the game we weren’t close enough.

"Ballymena started the game well and you look at the goal – Patrick McEleney is able to take the ball off the goalkeeper, travel 10 or 15 yards before knocking a straight ball which we should defend better and make better decisions with."

Dungannon’s fate still remains in their own hands, currently sitting fourth with three matches left to play before the split, starting with Wednesday’s trip to Cliftonville.

"We’ve put ourselves in a fantastic position,” added McAree. “If anybody had said to you at the start of the season that with three games to go you’d have a chance of finishing in the top-six and a semi-final to look forward to, you’d obviously have taken it.

"We have to respond. We want to do well, we want to finish as high up the table as we can and we have to remain positive.

"We have a positive changing room. They are hurting at this moment in time but we will be ready to go again on Wednesday.”