Brian Gavin: John Keenan knew Peter Casey would miss the final. He didn't make the call lightly

Apart from one or two things, John Keenan had close to the perfect game on Saturday.

Peter Casey of Limerick is shown a straight red card by referee John Keenan, for an off the ball incident with Conor Gleeson of Waterford, during the All-Ireland semi-final. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Any time a player threatens to miss out on an All-Ireland final because of suspension, there is going to be controversy.

I shouldn’t have to stress this, but no referee wants to deny a player the opportunity to play on hurling’s biggest day of the year, possibly the biggest day in their career.

However, when they have no choice but to show a straight red card in an All-Ireland semi-final then they simply have no choice.

I refereed four All-Ireland semi-finals and I can tell you they carry that extra bit of responsibility because sending a fella to the line has more repercussions.

You’re trying to referee it like any other game, but you’re also trying to be sensible too, knowing what is on the line for those who cross the line.

Coming in the 60th minute and Limerick leading by 10 points, John Keenan knew he was denying Peter Casey the chance to play in an All-Ireland final. It goes without saying he didn’t want to. He would have seriously considered that red card before he showed it to the forward. He spoke to his officials about the matter and determined that Casey had to go for what he did in that exchange with Conor Gleeson.

Having had a good look at what happened between the two players, unfortunately for Casey he does move his head in the direction of Gleeson and John had to do what he had to do. It was minimal, yes, but offences with and to the head are treated seriously.

Gleeson was the last man who missed out on a final because of a ban and he could have been joined on the line for that 2017 All-Ireland final by his namesake Austin Gleeson on a retrospective charge.

I know, because I was linesman for James Owens that day and I was fully aware of the pressure put on James to say he didn’t deal with Gleeson’s clash with Luke Meade at the time. That would have freed up the Central Competitions Control Committee to take matters into their own hands and propose the suspension to Austin.

Calls to show clemency for All-Ireland finals will never going go away — but administrators and officials are tougher these days. You saw that when James sent off Richie Hogan in the 2019 All-Ireland final. Like John on Saturday, James didn’t do that lightly, but a call had to be made and he made it.

I expect Limerick will go quite a way to getting Casey off for the final. They have sharp administrators and Casey is one of their better forwards so even for a team of their depth they will look to have him available. At the same time, they won’t make a song and dance about it.

Apart from one or two things like Jamie Barron escaping a card early on, John had close to the perfect game on Saturday. He contributed to a fantastic first half of physical hurling and one of the few disappointing aspects was not giving Limerick a free when Waterford committed fouls, two against Barry Nash, one against Aaron Gillane, in the same passage of play.

He was right to show a yellow to Cian Lynch for a high challenge around the neck and his umpires’ calls for HawkEye were justified.

In the Cork-Kilkenny game, Fergal Horgan rubber-stamped his position as the best referee around, and must be the leading contender again for the final.

All the bookings were on the money — Paddy Deegan and Pádraig Walsh for persistent fouling, Conor Fogarty for a late tackle, Tommy Walsh’s and Eoin Cadogan’s for a high tackle on Walter Walsh.

TJ Reid did overstep for his goal attempt in the first half, and Fergal was also sharp on off-the-ball stuff.

There did appear to be some confusion when he blew for full time soon after Adrian Mullen’s goal. Patrick Collins pucked out the ball, and Kilkenny were certain to win a free but the players didn’t seem to hear the whistle. Fergal did gesture for the end of normal time.

Fergal will hope that he will be appointed for the final as he was last year having done a semi-final. His main challengers would be John and James Owens although with Cork and Limerick having already met each other, experience is likely to be called for. The counties will expect the best man for the job and right now it is Fergal for me.