Anyone who thought we might get past an exhilarating game like Sunday’s All Ireland senior hurling final without controversy was sadly mistaken.

Fans are deeply divided – and certainly angry – about whether or not Kerry should have been awarded a penalty in the opening few minutes of Sunday’s All Ireland senior football semi final. Apart from that incident, opinion is united that it was a remarkably poor game to watch.

Fans are deeply divided – and certainly angry – about whether or not Kerry should have been awarded a penalty in the opening few minutes of Sunday’s All Ireland senior football semi final.

Fans in other counties may be angry about one thing or another, but this week

Fans in other counties may be angry about one thing or another, but this week in Cork everyone seems to be deliriously happy following their senior footballers’ defeat of All Ireland champions Tyrone.

Inevitably, after a one-sided hammering like Sunday’s All Ireland senior hurling semi final, fans of the defeated county feel a range of emotions. Anger is undoubtedly one of them. Shell shock is another. That’s the way Limerick fans have reacted, with harsh comments directed at their Bainisteoir, Just-In McCarthy, their county board and even their hapless players.

Inevitably, after a one-sided hammering like Sunday's All Ireland senior hurling

After their county goes out at the quarter or semi final stage of the championship we can expect angry reaction to their fate from some fans. So it was after the close fought and exciting Meath v Mayo football match and the immensely enjoyable Waterford v Kilkenny hurling game in Croke Park on Sunday. Mistakenly, in our view, some fans are directing their ire at referees and linesmen when maybe the

After their county goes out at the quarter or semi final stage of the championship we can expect angry reaction to their fate from some fans.

Hurling fans are concerned about the state of the re-laid Croke Park pitch. They're not angry yet, but they will be, if a slip in front of goal at a vital time decides the outcome of next Sunday's big game between Waterford and Kilkenny.

Hurling fans are concerned about the state of the re-laid Croke Park pitch.

There’s a veritable tsunami of criticism of the standard of umpiring during both senior hurling quarter finals at Semple Stadium at the weekend. The fans’ wrath is palpable and – to be honest – understandable

There’s a veritable tsunami of criticism of the standard of umpiring during both senior hurling quarter finals at Semple Stadium at the weekend.

Saturday night’s events in Semple Stadium have left Cork hurling fans not so much angry – though they are a bit of that – as fretful and worried about the future and they are trotting out various remedies to get back on the winning trail.

Saturday night’s events in Semple Stadium have left Cork hurling fans not so much angry – though they are a bit of that – as fretful and worried about the future and they are trotting out various remedies to get back on the winning trail.

The List of Shame of poorly managed venues, currently headed by Páirc Uí Chaoimh, has been joined by not one, but two Cusack Parks – the one in Ennis and the other one in Mullingar – plus Wexford Park.  Once again, fans are angry about badly organised stewarding, crazy starting times and ticketing arrangements.   What a way to honour Cusack’s name in the 125th year of the Association he helped to found?

There are two recurring targets for fans’ anger, week in, week out – ‘The Sunday Game’ and the conditions at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. There is praise for the quality of RTÉ’s preview of the Munster hurling final but disappointment at its scheduling. Things are reported to have improved at the Stadium of Lee, but there’s still a long way to go.

There are two recurring targets for fans’ anger, week in, week out – ‘The Sunday Game’ and the conditions at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

More and more angry fans are complaining about television coverage of big games. This could also be down to more fans staying away from the games and preferring to watch them in the – cost-free – comfort of their own homes or their local pub. Anyway, this week again, there’s praise and criticism in equal measure again for RTÉ and TV3.

More and more angry fans are complaining about television coverage of big games.

Despite some great hurling games at the weekend, many fans are still in a touchy mood – even with their own counties!

Despite some great hurling games at the weekend, many fans are still in a touchy mood – even with their own counties!

Maybe it was the soaking to the skin so many of them got on Sunday in Semple Stadium, followed by the awful hurling inflicted on that hallowed sod, or maybe it’s because of yet another dreary Leinster football tie – this time, between Wicklow and Westmeath - or Donegal’s unexpected collapse against Ulster whipping boys Antrim... but, boy, the fans are really angry with everyone this week.

What sounds like some very amateurish TV coverage of the Cork v Kerry football match comes in for a right lash from a very knowledgeable angry fan.

Maybe it was the soaking to the skin so many of them got on Sunday in Semple Stadium, followed by the awful hurling inflicted on that hallowed sod, or maybe it’s because of yet another dreary Leinster football tie – this time, between Wicklow and Westmeath - or Donegal’s unexpected collapse against Ulster whipping boys Antrim... but, boy, the fans are really angry with everyone this week.

In reaction to the All-Ireland football final, there's no real anger in Kerry. Yet. Like the reaction to Kilkenny in the hurling, fans from other counties are a bit shell shocked and are wondering what they need to do to emulate Tyrone.

MANY Cork fans are angry about the role – and we do mean ‘role’, as in Hollywood films – of Kerry’s Aidan O’Mahony in getting Cork’s Donnacha O’Connor red carded on Sunday. Kerry ‘great’ Dara Ó Sé is criticised for his analysis of the incident on RTÉ’s ‘The Sunday Game’.

Cork fans feel the GAA shunts them around the country too much, to matches that clash with other fixtures they want to see. They are angry about this and are demanding a ‘double header’ on 10th August to avoid this. Déise boys blowing kisses and tugging their crests. Even their own fans are starting to get angry about it. And Maurice Fitzgerald or John Doyle? The point is that a Kildare fan gets hot under his Lily White collar.

MANAGERS are at the centre of much of this week’s anger. There’s criticism of Ger Loughnane’s handling of the Galway hurlers and what fans call ‘the cult of the Manager in the GAA’.

Brass or bag pipes? Not much of a choice, really. But some fans are angry with the Munster Council for replacing the traditional pipe band on final day with a brass band. The TV3 honeymoon is over. They get a lash this week for the quality of their coverage and the GAA is criticised for failing to ensure live championship games are broadcast in Irish on TG4.

‘Sunday Game’ pundits who call on refs to ‘let the game flow’ even when a foul has been committed… the Cork football and hurling panels and their recent performances… Managers of losing teams…the Munster Council for not allowing reduced student admission prices to stands at big matches … too many lopsided games in both the hurling and football championships … There’s no shortage of targets for the fans’ anger this week.

The fans aim at a wide variety of targets this week. For example, how the format of the championships leads to so many one-sided games and particularly to Kilkenny’s dominance in hurling … Cork footballers are faulted, as are critics of Kerry’s mercurial captain Paul Galvin …Those profligate Dublin hurlers who shot off enough wides to beat Wexford twice over …and question marks over the great Eoin Kelly’s free taking technique.

Angry Fans returns to the Irish Examiner on Tuesday May 20.

We’ve got still more anger directed at the broadcast media. This time, it’s RTE’s News Room getting a couple of deserved brickbats. There’s genuine anger at the haphazard approach to crowd safety after big games in Croker. Cork fans seem more puzzled than angry with their footballers and management for the way they collapsed against Kerry in the All Ireland senior football final. And referee David Coldrick? Opinion on his handling of the big game is divided 50 / 50. Probably a sign that he got it just about right.

Fans are angry at Cork football followers for not being …well, fans. They stayed away in huge numbers from Sunday’s football semi final against Meath. There was no band at Croker for the game. Did they take a day off as well? Dublin fans mount a convincing defence against being tarred as drunken yobs because of the actions of a tiny minority of Dubs. And Limerick fans? They’re in the All Ireland senior hurling final and some of them are still angry, or at least they’re not happy – with media pundits, the Cork hurlers and with their local media’s alleged neglect of matters GAA.

Are refs to soft on the Kilkenny forwards and are their fans the most boring people you could meet? Some Angry Fans think so, anyway. There’s anger too at the GAA top brass for putting on an All Ireland hurling semi final before a quarter final and for charging an extra ? 10 for the privilege of watching it. Angry fans are still putting forward new names for presenters and pundits on the ‘Sunday Game’ while RTE’s Aertel service gets a lash for not keeping up with the game. For the Comment of the Week there’s a prize of a shirt from the exclusive AFR range of leisure wear!

Angry fans pick up on some unusual aspects of Sunday’s Munster final. Like the train that “missed” Thurles station and the way the Munster Council are “skirting” – or should that be “kilting” – the issue of the choice of band at the game.

Another good, if maybe not the greatest, game of Munster hurling between Limerick and Tipp underlines that this could yet be ‘The Year of the Hurley’ in the GAA calendar.

Fuming at the referee? Out of the championship? Who’ll win the All-Irelands?

Fuming at the referee? Out of the championship? Who’ll win the All-Irelands? It’s your shout every Tuesday.

A thrilling Meath v Dubs ‘derby’ before a sell-out attendance in Croke Park really ignited the Bank of Ireland football championship and Graham Geraghty was in the thick of it – in more ways than one.