Brian Gavin: Lighter touch with the whistle would have made Tipp-Cork a better spectacle

Robert Downey of Cork receives a yellow card from Seán Stack. Pic: ©INPHO/James Lawlor

The start of the Munster senior hurling championship always poses a difficult assignment for referees.

Shane Hynes was coming off a Division 1 final but what was presented to him in Ennis was something completely different.

By and large, he did well. Rory Hayes was deservedly booked for charging and catching his opponent in the head. Had he not been in possession of the ball, the colour of the card could have been different.

It was interesting that Eoin Downey was yellow carded for a similar foul in Thurles and that consistency between the officiating of Hynes and Seán Stack should be applauded.

Stephen Bennett was also booked by Hynes for a wild swing of the hurl as he tried to free himself from Adam Hogan. The Clare defender required treatment afterwards but I would give the benefit of the doubt to the Waterford man.

Hynes also showed good advantage for one of Bennett’s goals and the penalty which he sent to the net was also justly awarded. Where he fell down was blowing too early for a free for Waterford when a goal chance was opening up for them. Again, the slow whistle is best.

In Thurles, HawkEye let the side down and not for the first time. It took far too long – well over a minute – before confirming a Cork shot had gone wide in the first half. For the amount of money that is spent on the technology, for it to interrupt the flow of a game is not good enough and it has to be rectified.

We also saw the first real example of the new dissent rule for managers when Liam Cahill contested a free awarded to Cork in the first half. He was booked, Stack brought the ball into the 20m line and Alan Connolly sent it over the bar. The severity of it is worthy of debate but it’s happened now for the rest of the managers to see.

It was one of 35 frees that Stack awarded in the game and that felt far too much in championship. It was such a stop-start match and perhaps the constant stoppages was down to the fouling done by both teams and Stack attempting to keep the game tight.

It never seemed like it was going to get out of control but a gentler hand on the reins would serve Stack and the games he officiates well. For example, James Owens whistled for just 23 frees in the cracking Offaly-Dublin game on Saturday and most of them were in the opening quarter.

Maybe teams have to look at themselves and how they go about improving their tackling technique. If we want the game to be played with rhythm, then everybody is going to have to play their part.

Ben O’Connor spoke afterwards about the lack of frees Cork received against Tipperary. Perhaps he was more concerned about the total compared to the opposition’s.

Cork do play on the edge but they didn’t cross the line much. Their game against Limerick in Páirc Uí Chaoimh next Sunday is going to be an even more intense clash and ask a lot of the referee.

After a lot of confusion over the black card/penalty rule in the National League and the hand-pass, it was good to see clarification issued to county boards and media in recent weeks.

Galway may have had too much for Kilkenny in Pearse Stadium on Saturday night but there were a lot of big calls. Mikey Carey received a black card for careless use of the hurl and Galway were awarded a penalty. It was the correct call as Aaron Niland was in possession of the ball and it was a goal-scoring opportunity.

Later on, Kieran Hanrahan was fortunate not to be sent to the sin-bin too when he pulled down Eoin Cody. A penalty was given but no black card was shown to the Galway man.

John Donnelly was also rightly sent off for a dangerous foul on Darren Morrissey with an elbow to the head. He gave Morrissey no opportunity to protect himself and there could be no gripes with the call.

Both head-high challenges and the black card had been emphasised at a recent referees' meeting and Colm Lyons was certainly paying attention.

Daithí Burke appeared to get away with picking up the sliotar in the small square, but overall Lyons had a good start to the championship and will be happy with his work.

In Tullamore later on Saturday, we were treated to a thrilling game. As mentioned, Owens was like the Pied Piper in the first 15 minutes. In saying that, he settled down and was on the money for the vast majority of his decisions later on and played his part in what was a fantastic spectacle of hurling.

CORK SPORT

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