He was not happy.
There has only been one topic of conversation in the aftermath of Ireland’s 0-0 draw with Wales at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night and unfortunately, it surrounds the devastating injury to Ireland’s Seamus Coleman.
The Donegal full-back suffered a double fracture of his right leg due to a reckless tackle from Wales’ Neil Taylor.
Taylor way rightly shown a red card for the challenge but unfortunately, that is little comfort to Coleman or Ireland as the 28-year-old looks set for a considerable amount of time on the sidelines.
We have all seen the graphic images and there is no need to see them further but there was a touching moment when Shane Long did his best to console his stricken colleague as he lay on the turf.
Got a lot of time for Shane Long hugging Coleman when in desperate need. Wonderful act of friendship. #EFC #Coleman pic.twitter.com/xtYV0QsPnP
— Royal Blue Everton (@RoyalBlueEFC) March 24, 2017
This was commented on and lauded by many people. But some people took issue with the reaction of some Welsh players in the immediate aftermath of the incident, and interpreted them in a negative way.
In the following two images, you can see Welsh midfielder, Joe Ledley, walking away from the incident with a smile on his face.
Do I see Joe Ledley & Neil Taylor laughing in this picture? Scum. pic.twitter.com/iwGKLoOzEI
— Craig Arnott (@C_Arnott14) March 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/purplewarrior9/status/845567725007179778
Ledley smiling could be down to any number of factors, a disagreement with the referee over a prior incident for example.
It is highly unlikely that he was laughing at a fellow player lying on the ground in agony. Ledley fractured his own leg last year, and was one of the first Welsh players to react to the awful challenge.
However, this didn’t stop people on Twitter from accusing him of finding humour in the fallen Coleman.
Ledley respond to the accusations on Saturday morning, and he blatantly denied anything sinister.
“I didn’t want to acknowledge the nonsense on here but to those who have wrongly interpreted & commented on what my thoughts were at that moment in time need their heads testing.
“My thoughts are with Seamus Coleman & I wish him a speedy road to recovery.”
https://twitter.com/joe16led/status/845572345762906112
https://twitter.com/joe16led/status/845572491623981056
https://twitter.com/joe16led/status/845572586889269250
