Cork see red but ref’s call justified

Coming home from Croke Park yesterday evening, the radio was littered with comments, most negative, about James McGrath’s decision to send off Pat Horgan.

“Wrong” and “crazy” were some of the words used, former Waterford hurler John Mullane using the latter one on several occasions.

Those of a Cork leaning will of course argue the dismissal was harsh but it’s too simple to merely describe it as that.

Having watched it several times in replay, McGrath was justified to give the red card.

We have heard about all the directives about head high tackles over the last two seasons and there were grounds for the referee to make the call that he did as it was a reckless act. However, there’s no doubt it was a fine line decision. In refereeing seminars, phrases such as a foul being “high yellow” or “low red” have been used but there are no cards that colour.

While Horgan didn’t strike with a lot of force against Paudie O’Brien and the bang of the sliotar on his helmet appeared to cause more pain to the Limerick man, the Cork player struck an opponent in the back of the head.

I heard somebody on radio say O’Brien faked the injury but that’s just ridiculous as the ball clearly hurt him. It was just as silly to hear the referee should have known Horgan isn’t that kind of player. Referees aren’t instructed to consider a guy’s reputation going into a game.

In a highly-entertaining game on Saturday evening, James Owens was right both to award Kilkenny a penalty for a Noel Connors pull-back on Aidan Fogarty as well as giving the goal from it. Richie Power’s shot hit the stanchion through the goal and, after consulting with umpires, made the correct decision to raise the green flag.

He was also spot on when blowing up time just before Matthew Ruth struck what Kilkenny believed to be the winning point in normal time. Kilkenny should have no complaints about that.

In Croke Park yesterday, Eddie Kinsella had an impressive game. In the 44th minute, he spotted a Graham Reilly push on James McCarthy for a Dublin free and four minutes later blew against Kevin McManamon for two hops.

He was also on the money in deeming McCarthy’s 59th- minute shoulder on Reilly over the sideline to be a fair one.

Although he blew for a free in Reilly’s favour when the Meath forward was about to set up a team-mate for a possible goalscoring opportunity, he apologised to the player for the decision.

In Pearse Park on Saturday night, wearing my blue and gold glasses, Longford veteran Paul Barden was fouled in the final minute of normal time and was waved advantage by referee Padraig O’Sullivan but kicked it wide. Having run 40 yards at the end of a taxing game, Barden was almost out on his feet so it was no surprise his attempt wasn’t great.

Longford freetaker Seanie McCormack had kicked six from six in the game so it would have been more of a reward to them for O’Sullivan to have given Barden a free.

On a final note, after a week when officials at the Ashes and stewards in Newmarket were criticised over decisions, it was great to see the best umpiring call being made by a GAA man.

Carlow’s PJ Farrell from the Ballinkillen club in Carlow was the calmest and coolest man in a hot Wexford Park in last Wednesday evening’s Leinster U21 hurling final when he saw that the ball had momentarily crossed the Kilkenny goal-line for Wexford’s winning goal.