Inside Track: Moran wouldn’t have been red-carded had VAR been in place
Inside Track with Joe Carroll
The question was asked at a recent sports quiz: How many players have been dismissed in FA Cup finals. It set me thinking and then researching.
The answer is six. Kevin Moran was the first, Mateo Kovačić the most recent. Two of the half-dozen played for Manchester United, two others for Chelsea, and one each for Arsenal and Manchester City.
The most controversial dismissal was Moran’s. Playing at centre-half in United’s meeting with the double-seeking Everton in 1985, he put in what appeared to be a well-timed tackle.
The referee, however, thought otherwise and gave him a red card. Had VAR been in place, there’s little doubt the decision would have been changed.
Moran stands as the only one of the sextet to be given a straight red. All others chalked up two yellows.
Though the first final was played in 1872 – the long-gone Wanderers beating another of yesterday’s outfits, Royal Engineers (at the Kennington Oval, as if you want to know) – there had been no dismissals prior to Moran’s.
It earned the Dub some notoriety, but did nothing to blight his huge contribution to two codes.
Let’s take a brief look at his career before returning to the Wembley rule-breakers.
As in soccer, Moran played at centre-half in Gaelic, and was a key figure on Kevin Heffernan’s side of the 1970s, which were sprayed with some epic games between Dublin and Kerry.
Moran won two All-Irelands, a National League and was awarded an All-Star. After going to United, he made a brief return to the Dublin colours for the 1978 championship, coming on as a sub in an early round Navan match, which the late Louth referee, Harry Reilly, in charge that day, often talked about.
Dublin won the Leinster title, giving Moran a fourth provincial medal. He was required for Old Trafford duty after that; but Heffernan, in a Dublin management partnership with Tony Hanahoe at the time, somehow persuaded United manager, Dave Sexton, to allow Moran to take in the All-Ireland series.
Dublin were beaten by Kerry in the final, and Sexton wasn’t best pleased to see his centre-half returning with an injury. However, if there was a halt to Moran’s progress, it was only temporary.
He went on to enjoy some great years in the Manchester red and green of Ireland, winning two Cup medals, and playing in that memorable 1990 World Cup campaign.
He was in the panel for the following World Cup finals in America, but injury kept him out of the team. In all, he won 71 caps.
It was ten years after Moran was sent packing by Peter Willis for his tackle on Peter Reid that there was another Cup final red card.
It went to Arsenal’s Jose Antonio Reyes in the match with Man U in Cardiff. Down to 10 men, the Gunners still won, as United had done earlier.
Pablo Zabaleta got his marching orders in Man City’s game with Wigan in 2013, and four years later, Arsenal’s Victor Meses suffered the same fate.
The most recent – but almost certainly not the last – to go was Mateo Kovačić, playing for Chelsea against Arsenal in the 2020 final, which was watched by an attendance which was about the same as the one for same year’s All-Ireland final between Dublin and Mayo.
These will always be remembered as the Covid Year finals, played in front of only a privileged few.