Kerry chiefs dismiss Galvin furore
Photographs and television images showed Galvin’s index finger in Cadogan’s mouth leading to calls yesterday for the incident to be revisited by McEnaney.
The Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) met yesterday to finalise fixture details for the first round of the All-Ireland senior football qualifiers but it remained unclear if the referee had been asked by the GAA’s disciplinary body to study footage from the game.
Ironically, the same players were involved in a bust up in the league meeting between the counties last February which resulted in both receiving red cards from referee Maurice Deegan
However, high ranking Kerry officials last night said the McEnaney’s decision to allow play to continue on Sunday should mean that the matter is closed.
Kerry selector Ger O’Keeffe last night described the controversy as “a storm in a teacup.”
He said: “There is actually a photo in the Irish Examiner on Monday that looks like Declan O’Sullivan is sticking his finger into Paul Galvin’s eye at the same time so things can look different from different angles. There was a bit of a schemozzle at the time and things can look a lot worse on TV.
“The referee was right there. He was right beside it and he didn’t make anything out of it at the time.
“It is easy to look back at something in slow motion on TV but things happen at the time and TV doesn’t show what goes on before or after. I can’t see much coming of it. It is a bit of a storm in a teacup.”
He was echoing the sentiments of manager Jack O’Connor who told RTÉ Radio: “If you go back over the game at the weekend and maybe last weekend with it and you look at every incident, the boardroom would be pretty busy. I’m pretty sure he’ll (Galvin) be okay. You have the best referee in the county looking at it from two yards away and there was a bit going on, on both sides.”
Kerry chairman Jerome Conway expressed a similar view and revealed he had concerns about the growing trend of trial by television in the GAA.
“We haven’t been told anything by Croke Park. But whatever happened on the day was within eyesight of the referee. He was only a few yards away, made up his mind and opted not to take action. He didn’t deem it necessary to take action. I thought the referee was well on top of the game on Sunday. He made major calls and was quite confident throughout the game.”
Conway also claimed that the process of asking referees to review video footage of controversial incidents they may have witnessed in a game is placing unfair pressure on match officials.
“This process of asking to an incident to be reviewed by a referee – who was in close proximity to the incident – puts the referee is a very difficult position. He is damned in both ways whatever the decision he makes.
“I feel that if a referee is very close to an incident, sees it and makes a decision, then that decision should stand.’’
The matter was highlighted on The Sunday Game and Conway was annoyed by some of the comments from pundits Anthony Tohill and Colm O’Rourke.
“The analysts didn’t do Paul Galvin any favours,’’ he said. “I’m sure that there were other incidents on the pitch in the course of 90 minutes of football in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday.
“I would hope that Paul Galvin isn’t been singled out because of who he is and past indiscretions.
Meanwhile Referees Association Chairman Mick Curley has backed McEnaney’s decision to send off Cork’s Graham Canty in Sunday’s tie. Cork full back Canty was dismissed for a second bookable offence five minutes from the end of normal time after tangling with Kerry’s Colm Cooper. TV footage suggested that Canty got a foot to the ball but took down Cooper on the follow through, which saw the Bantry Blues man yellow carded.
But Curley insisted that Canty’s challenge was a sliding tackle, which is outlawed in gaelic football, and thereby worthy of a yellow card.
Curley explained: “The second Canty offence was a sliding tackle and you can’t make that in gaelic football. It is allowed in soccer but not at all legal in gaelic football. That was the correct call by Pat McEnaney.”
Curley, who refused to comment on the Galvin incident, also insisted that Joe Sheridan’s late effort for Meath against Laois which was waved wide was also the correct call by officials.
Sheridan thought he had won the Leinster SFC quarter-final for the Royals in the dying seconds of normal time against Laois but his shot, which soared over the top of the left hand upright at the Hill 16 end, was waved wide.
Sheridan’s attempted point has sparked fresh calls for higher uprights to gauge whether or not the ball has dissected the posts. But Curley countered: “It wasn’t over. Once the ball is over the post, not inside it, it’s not over. I can see why the point was made but if you look at it, as the ball comes in, it comes over the post and then curls, which makes it look like it has come over the post. But it has actually curled behind the post.”
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