Brian Gavin: I really do worry about the standard of hurling refereeing
Referee Liam Gordon during the Munster SHC match between Tipperary and Limerick at Páirc Uà Chaoimh in Cork. Picture: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
It was a big weekend for the referees of the two Munster semi-finals. Big calls by the appointments committee and unfortunately ones that have to be questioned.
Liam Gordon and Seán Stack’s performances weren’t up to the standard required at this level, Liam’s more so than Sean’s.
There are obviously difficulties refereeing in such wicked weather especially for Liam in Cork yesterday but some things are not acceptable.
I’m talking, of course, about the decision to let the John McGrath goal stand.
Ultimately, it had no impact on the result and Liam can be thankful for that but the strike should have been disallowed. Instead, the score was put down after he wasted two minutes conferring with his umpires and his linesman.
Again, it raises the issue of a TV match official.
If we could just go to a referee who has a chance to look back on the incident and advise. I’m not talking about every decision but the major ones and this sure was a major one. When one player reacts angrily you pay it no heed but when so many of the Limerick side were incensed you do have to wonder if the score was legit.
Steps were a big issue across the four provincial semi-finals and while Johnny Murphy was punishing them in the Dublin-Kilkenny game they weren’t being refereed as strongly in the other three matches. Calum Lyons took about 10 steps in scoring his goal against Cork and it should have been a free out.
For Limerick’s penalty, Gearóid Hegarty also took too many steps but he was fouled on the way towards goal.
At least Colm Lyons, who was the saving grace from a hurling refereeing point of view, came back to award Galway a free after Conor Whelan had overstepped when scoring a goal on Saturday night.
Another notable blight on the games over the weekend was the amount of cynicism.
Us hurling diehards keep shouting down the need for a black card but it seems every time we do the evidence for its introduction gathers.
The number of pulldowns on players on their way towards goal in the Galway-Wexford game was horrendous and it’s got to the stage now when something has to be done to curb such horrible play.
I really do worry about the standard of refereeing too. There are about three or four referees now holding this hurling championship together and if they begin to fail then I don’t know what’s going to happen.
I’m sick of writing about the fascination with fitness in Croke Park but it’s becoming more and more obvious.
You saw how Seán missed Aussie Gleeson’s dig on Seamus Harnedy. Another fine hurler Patrick Horgan received a yellow for a flick when he too was lucky to stay on the field.
Seán also got caught by Jake Dillon when he dived for a free and Seán booked Sean O’Leary-Hayes for dissent. Robert Downey should have been booked for repeatedly slapping across Gleeson’s arm.
At least Seán didn’t seem to blow as much for restarts. With 52 shots in 36 minutes, the excessive whistling would have been extremely off-putting.
Liam mightn’t pick up a big game for a while after yesterday not just because of Tipperary’s second goal but other issues.
Aaron Gillane and Seán Finn should have received frees but were penalised instead. There was also a pull on Ronan Maher before he too was blown for overcarrying.
William O’Donoghue was yellow carded for a wild pull at the start of the second half but I would have given him the benefit of the doubt. Noel McGrath made a meal out of a Hegarty tackle when Hegarty was on a yellow card but at least Liam saw through that.
The yellows Colm gave out in Croke Park on Saturday were all justified.
Three pulldowns were all punished as per the rulebook and Joe Canning was also booked for a loose hurl to the head.
At least there seems to be some consistency with the amount of high tackles being yellow carded. On a bad weekend for hurling refereeing it was a rare highlight.
