Glentoran goalkeeper is sent off for lashing out at his OWN team-mate
What was he thinking?! Glentoran goalkeeper Aaron McCarey is sent off for lashing out at his OWN team-mate after conceding… throwing Northern Irish game into chaos with players stepping in to stop fracas
- Glentoran’s fixture against Coleraine was marred by two team-mates scrapping
- Goalkeeper Aaron McCarey lashed out at Bobby Burns after conceding a goal
- Burns was left lying, shocked, on the turf and held his face following the strike
- McCarey was sent off for the incident, and then left the field to a chorus of jeers
A hot-headed moment of madness marred a Northern Ireland top-flight fixture this weekend, with Glentoran goalkeeper Aaron McCarey sent off for striking his own team-mate after conceding a goal.
During his side’s 2-2 draw with Coleraine at the Oval, McCarey opted to take his frustrations out on Bobby Burns, lashing out at him and then grabbing the defender’s shirt while he lay, shocked, on the turf.
To little surprise, the referee showed McCarey a red card, and the stopper was forced to trudge off the field with boos directed towards him.
Scroll down for the footage.
Glentoran goalkeeper Aaron McCarey was sent off for striking his own team-mate (top right)
The incident was sparked after Cathair Friel slotted coolly into the back of the net for the equaliser on 79 minutes. As Friel wheeled away to celebrate, McCarey, clearly infuriated, hurtled towards Burns inside the box.
Burns, who was guilty of making a mistake in the build-up to the leveller, was separated from his team-mate by a number of their fellow Glentoran players, with Patrick McClean and Rhys Marshall both stepping in.
Indeed, captain McClean even hit his goalkeeper with the ball during the desperate scramble to bring an end to the drama.
A furious McCarey confronted Bobby Burns after conceding a goal, and hit out at the defender
Burns was left lying on the turf, clutching his face, with team-mates stepping in to break it up
Club legend Paul Leeman, reacting to the sudden bust-up, described McCarey’s loss of control as a ‘moment of madness’, and said he’d ‘never seen anything like it’.
Glentoran boss Mick McDermott, however, looked to play down the importance of the scrap, and insisted Burns was never struck in the face.
‘I’ve only seen a close angle on an iPad and I can’t zoom in on it,’ McDermott said after the final whistle. ‘When I can’t get our analysis cameras there’s a zoomed out version I’ll have a look at it.
‘Aaron has come into the dressing room and said he shouldn’t have done it, he has held his hand up and Bobby Burns the same.
The ball was even kicked towards McCarey, who tried to drag Burns back up using his jersey
Burns remained on the ground for a little while after the fracas, and McCarey was red carded
‘They’re both gutted with what happened, so look, we’ll deal with it. I spoke to Bobby and he said he didn’t strike him in the face. There was no contact with the face.
‘Until I see the footage I can’t give you my opinion of it. Bobby confirmed in the dressing room, I actually brought him into my office.
‘He said there was no contact with his face but when he fell back he hit his head on the grass and that was the reaction.
‘Nobody falls out, they’re all grown men. It’s an incident that shouldn’t have happened and now we move on. There’s no news. Two players got in a row, it’s happened before, it’s not nice but it’s happened and we move on.
McCarey was made to leave the field to a chorus of boos after being given his marching orders
‘We have rules and we protocols, procedures and disciplinary actions. If it’s proven it’s violent conduct we’ll have to consider the consequences.
‘I think for me talking to our players… the disciplinary stuff we deal with all the time. I’m not going to blow it up into a major incident.’
The match ended 2-2, with Jay Donnelly’s double seemingly handing Glentoran all three points after Conor McKendry’s opener – but Friel forced a share of the spoils.
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