Cunningham: All players and managers want is consistency

Cork selector Ger Cunningham says players and managers are looking for hurling referees to be more consistent in their officiating.

Following John Gardiner’s recent claim that games involving Kilkenny are refereed differently to others, the St Finbarr’s man would prefer to see more match officials adopt a uniform attitude to using their whistles.

“Like anything, all referees are trying to referee the way they see it. I think the one message we would try and encourage is a consistent approach from referees across the board.

“There’s no doubt you see referees blowing some days and other referees are not blowing other days.

“Consistency across the board — that’s all the players and coaches and managers look for.”

Asked if there was consistency in the refereeing between Cork’s Division 1 final defeat to Kilkenny (James McGrath) and their round win over them (Michael Wadding), Cunningham remarked: “James McGrath, his style of refereeing I think is to let it flow.

“He’s not known for blowing as many frees as other referees. We knew what to expect from that point of view about his style of refereeing.

“Other referees out there maybe blow a bit more. It’s in the past at this stage — there’s no point looking back.

Cork trained once since the defeat to Kilkenny but will shortly crank things up ahead of the June 24 semi-final with Tipperary in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Former goalkeeper Cunningham was giving little away when quizzed about whether Martin Coleman or Anthony Nash will get the nod to replace Donal Óg Cusack for the Premier clash.

He explained: “Like anything, you have to judge on training even though these two lads have been there for a number of years. They’ve both been involved for five or six years so we know their strengths and weaknesses but performances on the training ground will be as important as well.”

Cunningham felt for Coleman after the league final but expects he will be “all the stronger for it”.

He insists his expertise in the position doesn’t give him more of a say in deciding who will wear the No1 jersey. “Not at all. It’ll be the same as me asking Johnny Crowley about the centre-back position just because he played there. I think all the guys have their own opinions.”

Even if the 14-point defeat to Kilkenny was difficult to digest, Cunningham believes there was plenty to take from the game for Cork.

“From our point of view, I think it was good for the young fellas to get that experience of playing in a league final. It was probably a bad experience for them but at least they understand what level they have to get to. Hopefully they’ll take the positives from it and won’t be focusing too much on the negatives.”