Video screen official thought it was wide too

The official in charge of replays on Croke Park’s big screens has admitted he only re-showed Eoghan O’Gara’s point for Dublin on Sunday because he believed it was a wide.

Tom Fitzpatrick, a former member of the GAA’s national referees’ committee, made the call to replay the incident after deeming Marty Duffy’s umpire was right to wave the shot wide.

However, following the replay which prompted Dublin’s supporters to jeer and whistle, linesman Maurice Deegan informed Duffy the ball had in fact gone between the Meath posts and Duffy awarded it.

On match days, Fitzpatrick, a Clare native based in Dublin, works with Meath referee David Gough on a voluntary basis for outdoor advertising company CBS at Croke Park.

Had he known a point should have been awarded in the first place, he stated he would have chosen not to replay it.

“It’s true that replays for contentious decision aren’t generally shown but obviously on this occasion there was one.

“The reason was that it wasn’t clear to me at the time that the match official had made a mistake. As in line with the normal course of events, I believed I was showing the referee getting the decision right.

“It wasn’t until I saw the big screen, which showed the ball clearly going over the bar, that I realised what had happened.”

Fitzpatrick, who is stationed for match games in the Canal End control area, said he wouldn’t have replayed the incident had it occurred in the Hill 16 goal.

“If it was at the Hill end I would have known immediately that it had been a score as I am right beside the posts.

“Distance was another factor. The shortest answer and the correct one is that it wasn’t clear to me at the time that it was a debatable decision.”

Fitzpatrick is fully supportive of the GAA embracing technology in the detection the legitimacy of scores.

“The GAA are working with Hawk-Eye to ensure the correct decision when it comes to scores is arrived at.

“Of course, I would be in support of the idea of technology helping to ensure the right decisions are made.”

On RTÉ’s The Sunday Game, the GAA stated Deegan had advised Duffy having seen the ball go over the bar in real time.

According to the new rule introduced this year, a referee’s power was extended to consult further with linesmen and umpires.

It states a referee is permitted “to consult, on a needs basis, with a linesman or umpire[s] — where neutral — in order to establish matters of fact.

“In the case of the umpires, this shall include consultation concerning the validity of a score when the referee is in doubt.”