Brian Lohan: If they're going to change the way the game is refereed, the least you could do is tell us

Clare had two players dismissed in a heavy loss to the Rebels.

Mon, 10 Mar, 2025 - 08:34

Maurice Brosnan

Clare manager Brian Lohan hit out at the manner of the officiating this weekend after his side had two players sent off in their heavy defeat against Cork.

It finished 0-23 to 6-20 in Ennis after a clash that saw 10 yellow cards and three reds. Peter Duggan was sent off for a tackle on Cork goalkeeper Brion Saunderson. David Fitzgerald and Cork’s Cormac O’Brien also received red cards before the final whistle.

"I think that game was refereed differently to anything we've seen so far,” said Lohan post-match. “The word I'm getting is that there was a big meeting with the referees during the week and they laid down the law, but nobody told us and nobody told the players. To get all this information second-hand or third-hand and have two players sent off as a result of it, it is just not good enough."

On Friday, the Irish Examiner reported that r eferees were told to “tighten up” on the rules. Lohan said referee Liam Gordon did not speak to him about stricter enforcement before the fixture. When asked if he warned his players, he pleaded for official communication.

"Of course, but if they're going to change the way the game is refereed, the least you could do is tell us. So, four red cards in Kilkenny, three here and one last night (Conor Cooney). OK, last night there was no debate, it should have been a red. But I don't know, I thought Peter's was a harmless tackle. I thought the goalkeeper kind of ducked his head to get around the tackle and it was harmless."

He continued: “It looks like the game was refereed completely differently to how the games have been refereed so far this year. A little bit of notice is, I think, what we deserve."

Meanwhile, Cork boss Pat Ryan said he sought out the referee before throw-in after hearing about the red cards in the earlier game.

“We heard about it [the red cards in Kilkenny-Tipperary] an hour before the game and I asked Liam about it,” he said.

“He said it would just be as normal. There’s a duty of care and I think that’s the way we should be going – there’s a duty of care on each player to look after it.

“But, look, it is a really fast game we’re playing and we don’t want to take the physicality out of it, but we don’t want anything malicious.

“There are incidents that happen that are malicious but there are also incidents that are just about players getting carried away with the passion that is in the game.”

The attendance was 11,410 for the contest. Ryan said the clash felt like a championship fixture.

“You are going to get those things and that is what we want. That is what hurling is all about.

“We just have to be careful because these are amateur players – when you’re sending them off, you have to make sure that you’re doing the right thing, because they have to go to work the next day. They’re not like Premiership footballers that can go away to Dubai for two weeks and enjoy their break.

“Our fellas are going back to work in the morning and we just have to be careful from a mental-health point of view, making sure that when fellas are sent off, it is the right thing to do.”