Brian Gavin: Fergal Horgan did well bar advantage rule leeway

Graeme Mulcahy of Limerick breaks a hurley during a scuffle between both sides at Croke Park. Picture: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

Looking back, I was fortunate enough with the four All-Ireland finals I refereed. All of them were close or relatively close encounters and every match official wants to be involved in those types of games.

Not that they want to make an artificial difference so that the match becomes a contest but to be part of a cracker can be every bit as exhilarating for the man in the middle as it is for the players providing it.

Fergal Horgan can be happy with his performance yesterday at the same time disappointed it wasn’t a closer spectacle. You have to admire this brilliant Limerick team — what they did in the first half we may never see the likes of again — but after the half-hour mark it was one-way traffic.

That can be difficult for a referee because he is human too. His own focus and concentration levels can dip as it becomes clear there is only going to be one winner but Fergal was always on top of things. Don’t get me wrong, Fergal will have been delighted to be part of the great occasion that is an All-Ireland final but it would have been challenging and not entirely satisfying.

The skirmish in the second half was probably the biggest talking point of the game when Cian Lynch and Tim O’Mahony clashed and William O’Donoghue became embroiled in the aftermath. All three were booked, Lynch and O’Mahony after Fergal consulted with his linesman and umpires at the Hill 16 end, and the replays showed Lynch threw O’Mahony over his shoulder. Lynch had a fine game — he didn’t need to be doing things like that.

Gearóid Hegarty was shown a yellow card soon after and that was the right call. Seán O’Donoghue’s foul on Aaron Gillane, when the pair of them were isolated and O’Donoghue held him up, was an interesting moment. Was it a goalscoring chance? I know O’Donoghue would have to bring him down for it to stand as a sin-binning, but it was cynical. As far as the rulebook goes, Fergal got it right.

Where he seemed to divert from it was the long advantages he played. Club referees will be looking in at this game and wondering should they be applying the same delays in giving frees. I’ve seen some of it filtering into club games in Offaly but in allowing seven and eight seconds before blowing his whistle too much discretion was used.

Earlier this year the advantage rule was changed and what Fergal was doing contradicted it. If more referees take these matters into their own hands, there is going to be confusion.

James Owens made a fine call early on for a foul by Kyle Hayes that wasn’t spotted by Fergal. As for Graeme Mulcahy deliberately breaking an opponent’s hurley, it showed a lack of respect and was unsportsmanlike. Only a small blot.

Overall, the officiating in hurling improved this year after an incredibly shaky period in the league. Then there were moments in the summer, such as James’s decision to sin bin Aidan McCarthy that threatened to bring it into question again, and the Peter Casey situation has left a bad taste in some people’s mouths.

Looking ahead to next Saturday’s rescheduled All-Ireland senior football semi-final, it seems like a difficult assignment for David Coldrick. He remains one of the top three or four football referees in the country but it’s not going to be a simple affair. Kerry and Tyrone matches rarely are. The word is the final appointment is between Joe McQuillan and David Gough although we saw Fergal these last two seasons get the hurling semi-final and final.