Leinster SFC round-up: Ref pushed to ground and verbally abused

Leinster Council will assess Tiernan’s match report before deciding what sanctions will be issued.

Summerhill, St. Loman’s and Éire Óg all secured their place in the last eight of the Leinster senior club football championship with wins over the weekend, but the big news came after the final whistle at Glenisk O’Connor Park in Tullamore, where referee Barry Tiernan was pushed to the ground and verbally abused by a number of Tullamore supporters following their 1-9 to 1-7 defeat to the Meath champions.

Tullamore missed a host of chances over the course of the hour, but a first-half goal from Declan Hogan was enough to ensure that they still led by two points with five minutes to play. However a fortuitous Kevin Ryan goal and Eoghan Frayne’s fourth point of the afternoon completed the scoring, before Adam Flanagan was deemed to have handled the ball on the ground on the last attack of the game.

Tiernan initially awarded a 13-metre free but then changed his decision to a penalty, on the advice of his umpire. He then reverted to a free kick after an intervention from his linesman, just as Tullamore full-back Paul McConway stood over the spot kick.

Over three minutes of delay was followed by John Furlong attempting to find the net from the free kick, but he couldn’t find his way past 13 Summerhill defenders on the line, and with just over 72 minutes on the clock, Tiernan sounded the final whistle, only to be met with an onslaught of angry supporters of the home side.

Leinster Council will assess Tiernan’s match report before deciding what sanctions will be issued to individuals, and possibly the Tullamore club as a whole.

Two points was also the winning margin at TEG Cusack Park in Mullingar, where St. Loman’s accounted for Shelmaliers by 1-10 to 1-8.

Shane Dempsey top scored for the home side with 0-4 from play, and they led by 0-10 to 0-6 with just under 10 minutes to play.

A free from Eoghan Nolan and an excellent point from former Dublin star Eoghan O’Gara halved the gap, but corner back Eoghan Hogan looked to seal the win for the Mullingar-based club when he finished off an excellent team move for the game’s first goal.

Things went askew from there however, as Dempsey was shown a straight red card for a high tackle on Simon Donohoe, and Shelmaliers goalkeeper Craig McCabe hit the net with a penalty, meaning that St. Loman’s had to defend two late 45s to scrape home.

Between the two games, they barely matched the tally from Saturday night’s thriller in Carlow, where Éire Óg prevailed by 2-18 to 3-13 after extra time against St. Joseph’s of Laois to set up a tilt against All-Ireland champions Kilmacud Crokes next time out.

David Dunphy goaled early for the Carlow champions, but St. Joseph’s, just six days out from their narrow in in the Laois final, rallied and thanks to goals from Danny Hickey and Dylan Doyle, not to mention several good points from Eoghan O’Flaherty, they led by four points with ten minutes to go.

Éire Óg rallied however and Colm Hulton’s equaliser made it 1-14 to 2-11 at the final whistle.

Again St. Joseph’s took the lead through a Dylan Daly goal, but Josh Brady’s penalty and two late points from Adam McCarron won the day for Éire Óg.