Father of Ireland U17 keeper 'outraged' at referee's 'harsh' decision
The father of the Republic of Ireland U17s goalkeeper sent off during last night's penalty shoot-out has said he is "outraged" at the way the referee treated his son.
16-year-old Jimmy Corcoran was dismissed during the shoot-out against The Netherlands having saved their fifth spot-kick from Daishawn Redan to seemingly keep his side's hopes alive.
However, he was issued his second yellow card from referee Zbynek Proske for allegedly coming off his line.
A distraught Corcoran was forced to hand his goalkeeper's shirt to defender Oisin McEntee, but Redan made no mistake with his second attempt to send the Dutch through to the semi-finals after a game which had ended 1-1.
As the Dutch wheeled away in triumph after a 5-4 victory, Irish officials remonstrated with the referee and senior team boss Martin O'Neill marched onto the pitch to take issue with the decision.
Noel Corcoran, Jimmy's father, spoke exclusively to 98FM's Dublin Talks with Adrian Kennedy, and claimed that his son's foot was still touching the goal line when the penalty was taken.
Noel said: "Anyone that knows the way that Jimmy is coached with Cherry Orchard, when he faces penalties he starts from behind the line, to allow him do that (come forward), and his trailing foot was actually on the line.
"That is the way he has been coached to do so. Look it was harsh, but there is nothing we can do."
More on Irish U17 penalty agony on @morningireland sport. Rule is there, but you rarely see it called on in such circumstances. More shortly with Irish skipper Nathan Collins & @Corktod #RTEsoccer 📻 pic.twitter.com/uKzVAhO35T
— Darren Frehill (@Darrenfrehill) May 15, 2018
Noel gave his reaction to the sending off.
He said: “We were outraged with the way he treated a very young player.
“It was obvious the consequences of what was after happening, this was a 16-year-old, obviously he was my son but for any child to have to go through that I thought was very harsh."
When asked how Jimmy was doing the morning after the night before, Noel said: “He slept a little bit but he’s not feeling a whole lot better but time will fix that. This is football and that’s why we play sport; for the ups and downs.
“It still is the moment of his career so far but just for the wrong reasons unfortunately.”
