Cats ‘point’ sparks controversy

A CONTENTIOUS decision not to award Kilkenny a point in Croke Park in their Division 1 draw with Dublin has brought the non-live use of Hawk-Eye scoring technology on Saturday evening into question.

A 63rd minute shot by Eddie Brennan into the Hill 16 goal appeared to be going over the crossbar before Dublin goalkeeper Gary Maguire raised his hurley above the crossbar and batted it down.

Despite protests from a number of Kilkenny players that the ball had gone behind for a score and Maguire had reached behind the bar to save it, neither of referee Barry Kelly’s umpires elected to award the point.

In a trial run of their technology, Hawk-Eye cameras were only trained on the Hill 16 end goal for the two games on Saturday.

GAA communications manager Alan Milton had also pointed out that “there will be no contact with the referees or any of the match officials if there is a controversial score”.

Had the point been awarded, Kilkenny would have won the game and qualified for the Division 1 final. Following the game, Kilkenny manager Brian Cody refused to comment on the incident, saying he didn’t have an opinion on scoring technology.