Christy O'Connor: Clarity badly needed to address the black card issue in hurling 

Hurling's black card rule is so vague that it is almost unenforceable.

BIG DECISION: Mark Coleman hauled down Stephen Bennett for what should have been a black card to the Corkman and a penalty to Waterford. Referee Johnny Murphy did not deem it so. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

When Anthony Daly, Jackie Tyrrell and Joe Canning were discussing Mark Coleman’s tackle on Stephen Bennett at half-time in yesterday’s Cork-Waterford game in the RTÉ studio, there was no real debate on the topic. Seán O’Donoghue was also engaging Bennett in the tackle but Coleman hauled him down. Bottom line. Penalty. Black card.

Except it wasn’t. Johnny Murphy didn’t deem it to be but he isn’t the only referee to have come to that conclusion around black cards in hurling. “The black card seems to have vanished out of the game,” said Tyrrell. “When was the last black card given out?” “The Clare 20s (recent Munster U20 final against Tipp when Jamie Moylan was sin-binned for 10 minutes),” quipped Daly.