Referees’ chief Curley defends call to give Cork penalty

REFEREES’ chief Michael Curley has insisted Rory Hickey was correct to award a Cork penalty in Sunday’s Munster SFC final and hit out at media criticism of the controversial decision.

Curley described Irish Examiner columnist Cormac MacConnell’s viewpoint on the matter as ‘cynical’ and was also upset by the views of RTÉ Sunday Game analyst Tommy Lyons.

Limerick fans were incensed by the decision to award a penalty after 14 minutes following a tussle between Mark O’Riordan and Daniel Goulding. Donnacha O’Connor netted the kick to haul his side level (1-1 to 0-4).