Premier refuse to blame ref for final defeat

TIPPERARY County Board is not attaching blame to All-Ireland hurling final referee Diarmuid Kirwan or his officials over the controversial penalty awarded to Kilkenny which ignited their victory rally to beat Tipperary.

At this week’s meeting of the Tipperary board, delegate Sean Barrett, brother of inter-county referee Willie Barrett, who has umpired at major games with his brother, asked if the board had made any complaint about the standard of refereeing in the All-Ireland final.

The Ardfinnan delegate said: “There were six major mistakes made on the day and we should be making noise about it at official level. From my own experience, if mistakes are made by officials, there would be heavyweights from Cork or Kilkenny waiting for you at the tunnel at half-time to have a word.”