Skehan: Gardiner’s Kilkenny ref claims don’t add up

Former Kilkenny selector Noel Skehan has slammed John Gardiner’s claim that games involving Kilkenny are refereed differently.

The Cork defender claimed teams, when they face Kilkenny, have to be prepared for referees to act differently.

Gardiner was quoted as saying: “It’s no secret at this stage. It is different to any other game you are going to play. And other teams are going to have to get used to that. There is no hiding the fact games are refereed differently when Kilkenny are playing. That is the way it was, there could have been frees given that weren’t given against them. It is frustrating for players because there is no consistency in how games are refereed. You wouldn’t mind if it happened across the board, where referees let games flow. But you play against other counties and frees are given for stuff; when you play Kilkenny, the frees don’t come.