Brian Gavin: Refs might say sin bin decision was right, but hurling people know it's wrong

Cathal Malone, Conor Cleary and John Conlon of Clare look on as referee James Owens awards a penalty to Tipperary during the controversial Munster SHC clash. Picture: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Eight days on from the game the fallout from Aidan McCarthy’s sin-binning in Limerick continues. I have never seen so much negative feedback about a decision as there was for  James Owens’s call to punish the Clare player like he did, yet now we hear that referees believe it was the right call.

Out of the four sin bin incidents prior to this past weekend, only Fergal Horgan’s punishment of Eoin Murphy in the Leinster SHC semi-final was right in my view, in how the rule was intended and how it is written. But referees’ interpretations of it are now so expansive it has become ridiculous.

When referees convened last Thursday, I was hopeful some common sense would prevail and officials would be instructed that fouls like Murphy’s on Conall Flood were exactly what the rule was brought in for in the first place. Not fouls close to the sidelines or when there are other defenders poised to tackle a fouled player and legitimately prevent him from a goalscoring opportunity.

What also encouraged me was a person of Barry Kelly’s stature speaking openly about James’s decision not being the right one. Barry is mentoring Seán Stack and has his finger on the pulse. I had even wondered if the referee administrators would consult with the playing rules committee and come to an agreement on narrowing the parameters of how the rule could be interpreted.

Instead, to my astonishment, referees agreed that they will continue to dish out sin bins like Owens did, like Paud O’Dwyer did, like Colm Lyons did. In choosing to do this, they are going down a rabbit hole and I’m not sure there is any way back.

There was a genuine reason why this experimental rule was introduced for the inter-county season this year. Cynicism was no longer creeping into the game but had become a feature. But now all that could be lost because referees have taken the most open interpretation of the rule you could imagine.

Those who six weeks ago said "this is how the rule was going to be applied" have to shoulder as much blame now as the referees. They should have stuck their chest out on Thursday and said, “We won’t be doing this”. Instead, they have passed the buck and the hurling championship is in real danger of suffering.

Do referees actually understand that by backing what Owens did they have increased the pressure on themselves? Clearly not. The standard of hurling refereeing had actually been on the rise up to these contentious sin bins but now the men in the middle could be ridiculed for determining something as a goalscoring opportunity when none of the rest of us would do so in our wildest dreams.

What I don’t like seeing is Owens’s name being dragged around in the mud. It is wrong, it is unfair. I do maintain his was the poorest of all the sin bin decisions but then when you hear Fergal paving the way for such a call on the Irish Examiner podcast weeks ago you get the feeling he was just following what was agreed. That’s in spite of refereeing administrators disagreeing with what James did.

I would think the playing rules committee are scratching their heads looking at how the rule they put together and later updated before it went to Congress has been applied. Real hurling men know it’s wrong. If referees are strong enough to enforce rules, they should be strong enough to stand up and say it’s not right for hurling.

Otherwise, it was a relatively quiet weekend in the Championship. The big call in the Donegal-Derry Ulster quarter-final was the goal-line shout for Derry but David Coldrick and his umpires were right not to award it.

We saw a couple of football’s new rules in action such as the waving of hands for kick-outs and players collecting kick-outs inside the D punished. Stephen McMenamin was also yellow carded correctly at the start of the second half for a high tackle at the end of the first, which was another good example of the communication between David and his umpires.

Shane McGuigan was accurately penalised for a ridiculous tackle with a yellow card and it was another example of why David remains one of the best football referees in the business.