Anthony Daly: No other person in the Gaelic Grounds felt it was a penalty

The foul was committed inside the 20m line but how could James Owens’ mind compute, in that handful of seconds, that it was a goalscoring chance?

YELLOW PERIL: Referee James Owen shows Aidan McCarthy a yellow card and awards a penalty after his foul on Tipperary’s Jake Morris, a controversial call that cost Clare dearly. Picture: Inpho/Bryan Keane

As a player, I was involved in probably the most controversial decision ever taken on a pitch — the infamous Jimmy Cooney affair when Jimmy mistakenly blew up the 1998 All-Ireland semi-final two minutes early.

To this day, I’m still asked if I have any regrets over what transpired afterwards, when Clare lost the second replay, and ultimately, a glorious chance to win a third All-Ireland in four years.

Of course, you could have any amount of regrets; there are no guarantees we’d have beaten Kilkenny in the All-Ireland, but I’d like to think we would have. But do I blame Jimmy Cooney? Not one bit.

Jimmy made a genuine mistake. He wasn’t trying to play God. He wasn’t trying to deny us that third All-Ireland. I’ve long accepted that, but driving out the Ennis Road yesterday evening, I was seriously asking myself what was James Owens thinking. Was he trying to play God?

How could he justify that decision to award a penalty and a sin-bin when Aidan McCarthy fouled Jake Morris near the sideline and 31m from goal? The foul was committed inside the 20m line but how could Owens’ mind compute, in that handful of seconds, that it was a goalscoring chance? Was he just thinking: ‘Well, the rule is there, it allows me to make this call, so I’ll make it.’ Where was the common sense?

As Brian Lohan rightly said in his interview afterwards, there was no other person in the Gaelic Grounds who felt it was a penalty and a sin-binning. Liam Sheedy was diplomatic in his interview, but he knows full well that was not what the rule was brought in for.

You could argue that Peter Casey was unlucky to be sin-binned for his challenge on Conor Cahalane on Saturday evening, but you could argue that it was a clear-cut goal-scoring chance inside the D.

Cahalane could have got a shot away but how in the name of God could Owens have thought Morris could have got a shot away given his starting point inside the 20m line?

One of the most important points to make in all this debate is that McCarthy did not go out with the intent of taking out Morris. He was rash. Aidan was probably angry with himself in the first place for giving away the ball, but he was trying to flick the sliotar away.

It never entered McCarthy’s head for a second that he was trying to stop a goalscoring opportunity. Yet was Barry Heffernan not thinking about stopping Aaron Shanagher at all costs when he rugby-tackled Shanny to the ground just outside the square?

It’s gut-wrenching for players and management and supporters when someone decides to play God. It cost Waterford big time in 2018 when some umpire decided the ball was over the line when it wasn’t as Austin Gleeson had the sliotar in his hand. That score ignited a big Tipp comeback. The decision yesterday completely turned the tide as Tipp outscored Clare by 2-4 to 0-2 with an extra man for 10 minutes. Clare did get sidetracked by the frustration but show me a team that wouldn’t. It happened to Kilkenny in the 2019 All-Ireland final when they felt aggrieved by the Richie Hogan sending off.

I felt Owens got that decision right in 2019, but when it goes the other way and it has such a big impact on any match, it just leaves a really sour taste.

On the other hand, this is in no way sour grapes over the manner of Tipp’s win. That decision had nothing to do with any Tipp man. They just got on with the job and absolutely maximised the opportunity it presented to them.

Eibhear Quilligan was poor for the third goal but he made three incredible saves. Tipp opened up Clare at ease at times and Sheedy will be delighted, especially when most of his tried and trusted men came up trumps again.

Tipp got a good return from their bench too, but they’ll have to be concerned with the form of John McGrath. Tipp played some brilliant patches of hurling, but brilliant patches won’t beat Limerick. They’ll have to play with more energy, but this game will bring them on a tonne.

They’re back in with a chance of winning another Munster title but the big prize for Tipp is the guaranteed All-Ireland quarter-final, which did them no harm in 2019.

Clare will be gutted but there are huge positives to build on. They showed great heart and courage, and method in their play. They can be one-dimensional at times with the long ball to Shanagher but he does win a lot of possession, and Shanny is always a threat when he is on the ball.

Tony Kelly got 1-2 from play but he was well marshalled by Cathal Barrett. It probably suited Barrett that Tony was in the full-forward line.

Cathal Malone was brilliant. So was David McInerney when he came on, while Mark Rodgers looked really sharp when he was introduced.

Clare have no option now only to pick up the pieces and move on, as do Cork, Galway, and Wexford. All four teams will be disappointed, especially now when the qualifiers resemble a shark-pool.

Hurling is the beautiful game, but it can also be torturous with how it can twist the knife into your gut in a flash. Wexford experienced that first hand with the Hawk-Eye decision that cost them a goal. So did Cork when Sean O’Donoghue — who was brilliant throughout — tried to block Darragh O’Donovan’s shot before half-time and deflected it past Patrick Collins.

Cork were still recovering from that hammer blow when Kyle Hayes landed a concussive shot to their chin with another goal. It’s hard enough at the best of times to chase Limerick down but it’s nearly impossible when they manufacture a six-point lead on the stroke of half-time.

Patrick Horgan’s missed penalty was a massive turning point, but it was compounded by the manner in which Cork failed to capitalise on Casey’s ten minutes in the sin-bin, when Limerick outscored Cork by 0-4 to 0-2. That underlined the resilience in this Limerick team. They didn’t play as well as they would like or have expected but they still found a way, as they invariably always do.

Scoring 1-17 was never going to win the match for Cork. Hoggie was uncharacteristically profligate, missing 1-6. Some of those frees weren’t easy strikes but his standards are so high you’d have expected him to nail some of them. You’re always thinking he’ll nail one and take off, but he never did. Hoggie didn’t even seem to be striking the ball as well as he normally does.

If you were to say beforehand that Hoggie would have a nightmare and that Limerick would score more goals than Cork, you’d be thinking it would be a rout. Eight points was the winning margin but there was no way it was an eight-point game. Considering how many chances Cork missed, they know they can make up some of those margins in the qualifiers.

So will Wexford after losing an epic. The game had everything but it also had shades of the Wexford-Tipperary All-Ireland semi-final in 2019. When Wexford got the goal in extra time you expected them to kick on, but it was Kilkenny who took over.

They had the better bench but Davy Fitzgerald’s style demands so much energy from the Wexford players that it is almost impossible to sustain over 90-plus minutes. For a finish, Wexford lads were dropping like flies with cramp.

Wexford will have a lot more momentum going into these qualifiers than they had last year but trying to sustain that game won’t be easy with games coming hot and heavy every week. Kilkenny will be hot favourites going into the Leinster final, but they won’t get it all their own way if Dublin play as well as they did against Galway.

I wouldn’t take anything away from Dublin but you’d have to be hugely critical of how Galway started the game. Hunting for goals from the first whistle was more arrogance than intent. Laying down markers is all fine and well but ignoring handy scores is even more unforgiveable when you consider the experience of Alan Nolan — who was outstanding in goal — and some of the Dublin defenders.

Galway looked like a team that just expected to turn up and roll over Dublin, but that mentality can be difficult to switch back on when the tide turns the other way. Panic sets in. I’m sure there was plenty of straight talking done at half-time and during the water-breaks, but I’m not sure how much some of Galway’s leaders had to say because most of them were non-existent.

Even the way in which Danny Sutcliffe repeatedly had Padraic Mannion on the backfoot was a neat metaphor for the match, especially considering how much of a driving force Mannion is for Galway.

Galway will have spent the weekend in the horrors but that’s why we love the beautiful game so much.

Because it can so easily, in a flash, be transformed into the torturous game.