Conflicting views of match referee

I read with mounting dismay Diarmaid O’Flynn’s report on the Cork v Clare MSH semi-final (Irish Examiner, Jun 24).

My dismay turned to disbelief when I read an article by Michael Moynihan the next day outlining eight reasons why Cork won.

There is no argument that Cork were the better team and deserved their win.

Their manager and coaches had them well prepared and primed for battle and the players executed their game plan very well.

However, how it is possible for two reporters in a national newspaper to ignore the impact referee Barry Kelly had on the game beggars belief.

To my mind Mr Kelly has gotten off lightly overall, but other papers at least alluded to some dissatisfaction with his performance on the day.

The referee awarded 17 frees to Cork but only 9 to Clare, most of them in their own half. He doled out 6 yellow cards to Clare but only 3 to Cork.

One of Clare’s leading forwards, John Conlon, had to leave the field after taking an elbow to the head in what was the most dangerous tackle of the game.

It went unpunished.

When a Clare forward was taken out of the game by a high and late challenge as he bore down on goal, the offender only received a yellow card.

A red one was surely appropriate.

The referee also ruled that the offence happened outside the small parallelogram. Highly questionable.

A 21 yard free was paltry compensation for what could have been a game-changing passage of play.

While half a dozen Clare players received six yellow cards I cannot recall one dangerous or dirty tackle. How did this come to pass?

Even if Mr O’Flynn’s curiosity was not aroused, surely he could not have missed the derisive cheers of Clare supporters on the few — very few — occasions Mr Kelly was moved to award them a free during the second half.

Ciaran MacFhearrai

Stigh Lorgan

Ath Cliath