Brian Gavin: Conor Lane was desperately unlucky for the Eoghan McLaughlin incident
Eoghan McLaughlin of Mayo is stretchered off from the pitch following a head injury. Conor Lane had such little time to assess what had happened but was wrong on two counts, says Brian Gavin. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
We're always told it’s a game of inches and that was as true for the Offaly U20 All-Ireland victory on Sunday as it was for Mayo’s famous win over Dublin the evening before.
Unfortunately for Saturday’s referee, Conor Lane, such measurements in milliseconds produced the All-Ireland semi-final’s biggest talking point.
An inch or two lower and John Small’s shoulder on Eoghan McLaughlin would have been a legitimate one. A second or two more and Conor mightn’t have felt the tackle was on the money and allowed the game to continue.
Conor had such little time to assess what had happened to McLaughlin but he was wrong on two counts — allowing Small’s tackle to go unpunished and not stopping the play so that the Mayo defender could be assessed.
The room for error is so small in these games especially on a wet evening like Saturday but Conor will be cursing himself for missing it. At least there was some reprieve in Colm Basquel not scoring the goal chance that developed as a result of McLaughlin losing the ball when he crumpled to the ground.
Conor was refereeing excellently a couple of years ago but he hasn’t been his usual good self this season. The black cards he dished out to Tom Lahiff and James McCarthy in the second half of extra-time were correct calls but the one for Basquel in the first half was a harsh one as he couldn’t get out of the Mayo defender’s way.
McCarthy was also lucky not to be punished for a dig back at Diarmuid O’Connor at the end of normal time and how Aidan O’Shea was allowed back on the field to get involved in the skirmish following Rob Hennelly’s 45 is beyond me.
Philly McMahon was nearly the cause of Dublin’s demise when he came on but Conor chose to blow for full-time at least a minute earlier than he should have done. He was actually right to do so considering the antics from players on both sides.
In the first half of normal time, Paddy Small won three frees only one of which seemed a genuine one to me and it allowed Dublin to keep the scoreboard ticking over. The yellow cards Conor dished out in that period to the likes of Dean Rock and Paddy Durcan were good spots.
Much has been made of Davy Byrne not being black carded for a pullback at the end of normal time but technically Conor was 100% correct not to give it as while it is cynical it is not a sin-binning offence.
I recently became aware that RTÉ and Sky are now privy to what is said on the referee’s microphone for clarification purposes as was the case for Limerick when they challenged Peter Casey’s red card this past week.
Casey was cleared on what I would consider a technicality with John Keenan not referring to Liam Gordan after he said that he would. As I wrote last week, Casey deserved the red card and John would be disappointed considering he and his team spotted a dismissable offence when others like Aaron Gillane’s in the Munster final had not been picked up.
We’re going down a dangerous path when the referee’s audio is being used. I know it’s been used in documentaries but it’s a new phenomenon when it forms part of the evidence against the decision taken by the referee and really is something that should be trialled.
Finally, and as well I would say it but Seán Hurson had a fine game in the U20 football final. He has been the most improved football referee these last two or three years and is in the top five in the country now.
I can’t stress how much the win for Offaly means. We have been in the doldrums for so long and there was such emotion afterwards. The lift it has given the county will keep us warm well into the winter.
