GAA may ask Cody to explain scathing attack on ref Kelly

The GAA is expected to at least ask Brian Cody to explain his scathing remarks about Barry Kelly as the referee’s Westmeath County Board intend taking the matter further.

The Central Competitions Control Committee’s next meeting takes place in a couple of weeks and it’s anticipated the Kilkenny manager’s criticism of the long-standing official will be discussed.

Speaking to print journalists on Sunday after his side’s All-Ireland final victory over Tipperary the evening before, Cody described Kelly’s decision to award an injury-time free against Kilkenny as “criminal”. John O’Dwyer put the long-range shot marginally wide after Kelly deemed Brian Hogan had charged into Pádraic Maher.

“At the end of the day,” said Cody, “they were handed an opportunity with the last puck of the game the last day in the wrong to win the game. They were handed an opportunity by a complete wrong decision. We didn’t speak about it the last day but it was criminal what was done the last day. And people can say that I am whingeing and moaning all they like but I am telling the truth here.

“If he had said ‘play on’ I would have said fair enough. I could say maybe it might have been a free for us, I wouldn’t worried about it. If the ball broke and they put it over the bar fair enough but you don’t hand a team a free puck and say ‘lads, there you go’. It was like that.”

National referees committee chairman Pat McEnaney was unavailable for comment.

However, CCCC secretary and GAA director of games administration and player welfare Feargal McGill said: “It’s a matter for the CCCC. They have as a matter of course to consider anything arising from games. The next meeting is not until the middle of October but that doesn’t meant it won’t be followed up on. It’s up to the CCCC to decide whether they are happy or not with what he said.”

Cody may be found to have brought the game into disrepute with his comments. In 2011, Wexford goalkeeper Anthony Masterson was asked to apologise for comments made about referee Derek Fahy after they lost a qualifier to Limerick in Portlaoise. Had he not done so in writing, he faced an eight-week suspension.

Westmeath chairman Sean Sheridan said he was “angry and annoyed” to read the comments made by Cody and will not be letting the matter rest.

“I am very disappointed that Brian Cody, a man we and every young lad playing hurling look up to in our county, would say such things. Words can’t truly describe how I feel about a man of his profession making those comments.

“Barry Kelly is an outstanding referee. This was his fourth All-Ireland final. I wouldn’t tolerate what Brian Cody said and I wish he could think about it and revise his statement. We will be taking it further down the line. It was insulting to Barry Kelly and his family.

“That game is over and done with. Kilkenny won the replay. A man of his calibre, I wouldn’t expect that from Brian Cody. I just wonder what he makes of the word ‘criminal’ because it means a lot of things to me. That was very unwarranted.”

Kilkenny’s antipathy towards Kelly’s officiating is so ingrained that a GAA official was surprised to be quizzed by Cats fans in Croke Park last Saturday evening about Kelly’s future refereeing plans. What made their questions so puzzling to the official was the fact that they were raised after the game, when Kilkenny had just collected their 37th All-Ireland title.

Before the drawn game, former Kilkenny defender Eddie O’Connor also hit out at Kelly. “The fear I have is Barry Kelly might want to be more important than the players and when that happens it can ruin the game.”

GAA director general Páraic Duffy has indicated his support for more action against team officials who query the honesty of referees.

In his report earlier this year, he wrote: “It seems to me the criticism of referees by team officials is now considered routine and acceptable. Despite this, the instances of officials being held to account by disciplinary committees for questioning the integrity of referees are extremely rare.

“One reason may be that the infraction of making ‘derogatory comments in relation of game officials’ is currently dealt with in our Match Regulations under a charge of ‘misconduct considered to have discredited the Association’, for which the minimum suspension is eight weeks. The penalty is deemed by many to be too severe, which may explain the reluctance to prefer charges.

“However, criticism that attacks the integrity of a referee should not go unpunished. A more appropriate sanction in the Match Regulations would be the withdrawal of sideline privileges for a number of games.

“I believe that this would be an effective deterrent and would encourage more measured post-match remarks by teams officials. I believe, too, that Competitions Control committees would be more likely to address the issue of unacceptable criticism if such a penalty was available to them under rule.”