Sparrow lets fly at referee

THE disappointment of defeat was evident when Ger O’Loughlin fielded questions after yesterday’s Munster SHC semi-final and that was exacerbated for the Clare manager by the decisions made by referee James Owens during the game.

“I must say I was very disappointed. I might be wrong, but I think for 23 or 24 minutes we were entitled to three frees and we got none. We were well on top and I just felt we didn’t get the rub of the green from the ref. I got very frustrated with him, I thought a team like Clare need a few breaks like that. I was only looking for what we thought on the sideline were frees to Clare.

“Instead, on two occasions he gave frees out a couple of seconds later. I’d love now if fellas sat down and looked at that closely. They are only human as well, and we all get excited, but it was at a vital time for us and as far as I remember, I think they might have got scores out of two of them.