'That was shambolic' — O'Callaghan's Mills boss Doyle slams ref after three reds in IHC Final

RIOT ACT: Seán Doyle hit out at the decisions which cost his sie dearly. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

O’Callaghan’s Mills manager Seán Doyle criticised the refereeing for ruining their Munster Club IHC final as Upperchurch-Drombane defeated the 12-man Mills in a controversial contest.

The game was poised at 0-12 to 0-11 until a pair of red cards dished out by Nicky O’Toole to their wing-forwards, Jacob Loughnane and Conor Henry, in the same 37th-minute incident.

Loughnane’s second yellow was for a reckless high tackle, while Henry received back-to-back bookings for a verbal exchange with the referee.

Their misery was complete when Gary Cooney received a straight red in the closing stages for retaliation.

Doyle felt the initial incident flowed from a sequence of contentious no-calls by the ref in the build-up.

“The ref lost composure there. He totally ruined the game,” said Doyle. “I thought he was good coming into it, but look, to me, that was shambolic refereeing, and just ruined the whole thing as a contest.

“There wasn't a dirty stroke in the game. Tit for tat, tough hurling, that's what it's about, out here between the white lines. But he left three or four pulls on that side, and it just rose the temper. That's when emotions get the better of you, and things can happen.

“Now, it happened on both sides. There were some fair pulls on both sides, and he let a couple of ones off on the other side that he shouldn't have let off. But look, we have to take it on the chin now and move on.” 

On the individual decisions, Doyle accepted Henry’s red, but questioned the refereeing surrounding the other pair.

“Jacob Loughnane is one of our cleanest players. I’d say he’s never got sent off in his life," he added.

“Gary Cooney got nearly decapitated. He gave yer man a yellow card, and he comes around and gives (Gary) a red card.

“Yer man didn't even go for the ball. He should have got a red as well. Look, the ref lost control. What more can I say?

“I'll have to look back on it. It's just devastating at the moment, especially for the lads. I've no complaints about the second red card. You have to hold your discipline in them situations.

“It just ruined the game as a spectacle, it ruined the game for our supporters, and it ruined the game for us.

“I just thought we got the really raw end of the stick. To get three players sent off in a Munster final is devastating.” Upperchurch manager Liam Dunphy didn’t comment on the red cards, but commended his players for closing out the contest.

“I didn't really see them, and one of them was in front of me. You're so wrapped up in the thing, you don't actually take note of that,” he said.

“When you see a red card flashing or an incident happening, you're thinking, right, what's my set-up after this? Who do we need to move where? Who do we put marking? Who do we free up? That's all I think about. I didn't even take note of the sendings-off.

“I found myself on the sideline thinking, Tipp and Kilkenny, minor, Nowlan Park, 13 v 15. Please don't make mistakes. Work the ball through the lines. Carry the ball. Use the spare man. Hit the ball to the right man. And do not allow the opposition to take short puck-outs.

“It took us five or six minutes to actually get our bearings on that. But when we got our bearings, we really got to grips with it.” Dunphy agreed the 14-point margin of victory was a “false scoreline”.

“The reality is, and this will sound absolutely nuts, but if we came out of here winning by a point, 15 on 15, maybe you'd be that bit happier,” he said.

“But look, it is what it is. You have to adapt to the circumstances in front of you. We adapted. We won the game. We closed it out. We won a Munster final. We move on.” When asked if the controversy took from their victory, Dunphy replied: “In generations' time, Upperchurch-Drombane will be recorded as Munster intermediate champions of 2025. Nobody will ever remember how many were on the field.”