Eimear Ryan: Are referees playing the ball and not the man?
17 April 2022; Darragh Lyons of Waterford handpasses the ball as referee Johnny Murphy looks on during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 1 match between Waterford and Tipperary at Walsh Park in Waterford. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
This compressed championship is wreaking havoc with the weekly columnist. Where previously we might have had one or two marquee fixtures of a weekend, allowing us to chew the fat and speculate and really savour each round, we now have more action than we know what to do with. There was a time you could rely on the championship to provide you with a slow drip of material for at least five months; now it’s either a feast or a famine. Therefore, forgive me if I seem distracted this week. Instead of one coherent narrative, I present three mini-columns. Columnettes, if you will. I would say that normal service will resume next week, but in this hurling economy, there’s no guarantee.
Like many Tipperary fans, I’m adopting a posture of scrappy optimism after Tipp’s opening display against Waterford last Sunday. It was encouraging to see the debutants and younger players so involved, with Dillon Quirke looking especially busy at wing-back. Encouraging, too, was Tipp’s unrelenting press on the puckout, and the calmness with which Tipp punished Waterford’s nervy mistakes – Noel McGrath’s don’t-mind-if-I-do acceptance of Tadhg de Búrca’s handpass in the 21st minute being a particular highlight. Barry Heffernan looked dangerous any time he came forward. Jason Forde wasn’t his usual self, but his quick hands for Mark Kehoe’s opening goal gave reassurance that his genius is intact – even if he should have been in for one of his own before half-time.
Colm Bonnar showed great assurance on his Tipp managerial debut. There’s not much one can do about an Austin Gleeson-Jamie Barron substitution double-whammy, but Tipp’s bench also had plenty to offer, with Dan McCormack, in particular, making a case for his inclusion going forward; great to see Bonner back in action too. Given John McGrath’s heroics in the club championship, I was disappointed to see him get so little pitch-time, coming on three minutes from the end, but it was a reminder that Tipp have more in reserve than I had previously given them credit for.
Of course, if Tipp don’t record a win against Clare this weekend, it will be a grim two weeks looking down the barrel of a fixture with the All-Ireland champions. Tipp are now something of a known quantity, whereas Brian Lohan’s side retain the element of surprise. On the basis of the Waterford match, however, I’m now much more optimistic about Tipp’s chances of grabbing the third spot in Munster than I was previously.
At the same time, it feels strange to be feeling so enthusiastic about a first-round loss. This is Tipp after all; our expectations are never less than sky-high. And yet, the Eamon O’Shea era made philosophers of us all. It’s not about winning, per se: it’s about a performance. It’s about building something. Focus on that, and the wins will come – in theory at least.
A curious phenomenon last weekend: every ref seemed very attentive to fouls on the ball, but when it came to fouls on the man, they – as the received wisdom goes – let the game flow. Across the three big games, there was an unusual amount of frees given for overcarrying, throwing, and picking it off the ground. Then there was that infamous call on Saturday when Conor Cooney was penalised for taking ten seconds over a free, a decision that had a huge bearing on the outcome of the game and with which Galway fans can be rightly upset.
Is it good to see a crackdown on sloppy play, the throws in particular? It is. But it is disconcerting when the majority of frees are concerned with ball etiquette rather than player protection. At half-time in the Tipp-Waterford game, the Sunday Game panel was discussing whether Mikey Kiely should have been sent off for a pull on Seamus Kennedy’s head: on the pitch, it didn’t result in so much as a free.
These days, when a player in possession is surrounded by two or more hassling opponents, and the whistle goes, it’s impossible to predict which way the free will go. Is it a free for the player in possession, having received a few digs (as happened to Cian Lynch)? Or is it a free against him for overcarrying (as befell Patrick Collins)?
As for the handpass, maybe it’s time to retire it altogether, especially now that lads can ping and Brick-flick the ball with deadly accuracy. At the very least it could be adapted to make it less open to exploitation; maybe you have to use both hands, or dodge it off the hurley first. And on the subject of rule changes …
Listen. I love the Munster championship. You love the Munster championship. But it feels stressful, and somewhat unjust, to think that two of the best teams in the country are going to be out of contention by the end of May, not to be seen again until 2023. I greatly enjoyed the drama and tension of Galway and Wexford on Saturday night, but when you watched the two Munster fixtures on Sunday, they were just at a different pitch. The gulf between the provinces is growing. What are the odds that we’ll see a third all-Munster All-Ireland final on the trot?
Ditching the provincial championships sounds drastic, but ever since the backdoor was implemented 25 years ago, its significance has been steadily eroded. Perhaps an open draw is the logical endpoint to the round-robin system. There’s an opportunity there to make both pools more even, which will benefit all counties in the long run. If you must, you could still play off the top two Munster teams and the top two Leinster teams to keep your provincial titles in the mix. The format has changed so many times in recent years – what’s another pivot?
