Derek McGrath moves on from Diarmuid Kirwan’s late controversial free decision

Waterford hurling boss Derek McGrath said yesterday that he and his squad had “parked” referee Diarmuid Kirwan’s controversial late call in Sunday’s league final immediately after the game.

Kirwan awarded Clare an injury-time free which Tony Kelly converted to help Clare to victory in Thurles, but McGrath said: “The groundswell of opinion in Waterford on Monday — not in our dressing room — was of Diarmuid (Kirwan), but we parked that immediately ourselves. In the Horse and Jockey, we had our team meeting and we said that.

“The longer that becomes a side issue, any sense of ‘we were robbed’, then it becomes a negative, like the reaction to the drawn game the previous week.