I blame myself for Kerry’s late escape, admits Colin Walshe

Monaghan captain Colin Walshe says he’s more disappointed with himself than referee Maurice Deegan after failing to overcome Kerry last weekend.

David Clifford’s injury-time goal for the Kingdom secured a battling draw to keep the Munster champions’ All-Ireland title hopes alive.

Around 30 seconds before the goal, a free was awarded against Walshe, who was adjudged to have touched the ball on the ground.

But various commentators, including former Ireland manager Paul Earley, pointed out that Rule 1.2 of the Official Guide allows for a player who “falls or is knocked to the ground while in possession of the ball” to “fist or palm the ball away on the ground”.

Earley felt this applied to Walshe and claimed on social media that “refs should get the obscure technical calls right”.

However, he acknowledged that the rule is open to interpretation.

“There was the same decision against Conor McManus about 10 minutes previously on the edge of the D,” said Walshe. “He went for a ball on the ground, he touched it away and it was given as a free out. It is a rule that needs to be touched on and highlighted.

“Maybe in the heat of the game he (the referee) didn’t let it go. It was more probably the fact I was caught in the corner with the ball and got dispossessed that annoyed me more than the actual decision.

“I read about that rule afterwards. I wouldn’t have been aware of it at the time. You have always seen a touch on the ground given as a free out. I was more so kicking myself for getting caught in the corner with the ball.

“That was what was going through my head. At that stage of the game a lot of things go out the window and it was just something that I should have handled better.”

If Monaghan had held on for the win they’d be level on points with Galway, whom they meet in Phase 3, and would already be through to the semi-finals.

Now, after beating Kildare and last weekend’s draw, they could potentially miss out on a semi-final place if they lose to Galway in Salthill on Saturday week.

“We spoke about it last night (Tuesday), it is definitely something you could dwell on and look at the ifs and the buts, if we had won the game we’d be in an All-Ireland semi-final,” said Walshe.

“But going into the Super 8s, going into the three games, you wanted to be in with a chance of making the semi-finals ahead of the third game, you wanted to have something to play for and we have done that. We have put ourselves in a position that it is in our hands. We are not depending on a result somewhere else going for us. It’s in our hands. If we win in Galway we are in an All-Ireland semi-final.

“If we don’t then we’ll say we won one game out of three and we didn’t do enough to get into a semi-final.

“Going into the Super 8s, we would have felt that it was always going to go down to the wire.

“So we drew a line in the sand at training and said that if we dwell on it, it is not going to benefit us.”

It’s the second time this summer that an injury-time goal has cost Monaghan in a huge Championship game after being knocked out of Ulster by a last gasp Eoin Donnelly Fermanagh strike.

“That day against Fermanagh it was virtually one-on-one in the square against Eoin Donnelly who is six-foot-four or five, it was something we shouldn’t have let happen,” said Walshe. “Whereas the last day there was plenty of bodies around it, it was a ball that was squeezed through a space and it was the only place it was going to go to get a goal. Young Clifford found it, so we just had to deal with that one.”

_Deciding Super 8 ties

Kerry and Monaghan could have to meet again this season if the sides can’t be separated in the All-Ireland quarter-final group stage table, the GAA confirmed yesterday.

Monaghan have a two-point advantage over the Kingdom going into the final round of games and are five points better off in scoring differential.

Should Kerry defeat Kildare and Galway beat Monaghan in next week’s games, Kerry and Monaghan will have to be separated by scoring difference or even goals scored. And if the teams have identical scoring records, a play-off will be held.

Separating two teams level on points in the Super 8 table:

1. The outcome of the match between the sides (the Monaghan v Kerry game was drawn)

2. Score difference – subtracting the total scores against from the total scores for

3. Highest total score for (goals plus points)

4. Most goals scored.

5. Play-off