Cork boss Cleary fumes at crucial referee call at the death of league decider with Meath 

The Rebels came up short against the Royals at HQ on Sunday. 

LESSONS: Cork manager John Cleary will turn his focus to the championship. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

John Cleary was furious that a Cork free, in the final seconds, wasn’t brought forward by 50 metres, which would have given his team an opportunity to send the Division 2 decider to extra-time.

A Pa Doyle restart, with 10 seconds remaining, was chipped to Cork defender Maurice Shanley just beyond the 40-metre arc. 

Referee Brendan Griffin played advantage following the initial foul by Meath sub Cathal Hickey, with a free awarded following a second foul by fellow Meath sub James Conlon.

But not alone did Conlon illegally halt Shanley, he then pulled the defender to the ground after the free had been awarded.

Cork captain Ian Maguire immediately raced over to Griffin to ask why the free wasn’t being brought forward 50 metres, as did John Cleary at full-time. 

Had the dissent rule been enforced by the Kerry official, the advanced free would have been in Steven Sherlock two-point territory.

“We got a free and Maurice Shanley was tripped. To me, I thought that was a 50m penalty, but maybe I am wrong. That was my reading of the rules in the last kick,” said Cleary.

“He gave [Conlon] a black card, yet the free was there [where the foul occurred], so that definitely is an advantage. What else would you do then only keep fouling, keep fouling, and that's what's going to continue, I think, as the championship comes in.

“If you are a point up with 40 seconds left, you are going to keep fouling because, to me, after we got the free, why wasn't 50m given.

“I asked him. He kind of said that he hadn't blown the whistle, that he was giving advantage. Maybe I'll be proved wrong, but that is the way it looked to me from the sideline.” 

Cleary's annoyance over the endgame aside, the Cork manager accepted that his team’s struggles on their own restart was a chief factor in failing to secure the county’s first piece of Croke Park silverware since 2012.

During the 14 second-half minutes where Meath reeled off eight unanswered points to leap from three behind to five in front, they won six of Cork’s seven kickouts, and mined 0-5 in the process.

Of Cork’s first 12 kick-outs in the second half, only three were retained. In total, Meath kicked 1-10 from opposition restarts claimed.

“They did trouble us big time with kick-outs, particularly down the middle,” Cleary continued.

“Looking at it there, midway through the second half, they outscored us eight points to zero. Other than that, it was toe to toe. There were times we were on top as well. We fought back very valiantly in the end.

“There were times we upset their kick-out as well. But maybe when four or five come in-a-row, you are kind of looking at that and saying that was the changing of the game. We had chances in the first half, two goal chances, and we didn’t take them.

“Again, our kick-out is something we will just have to go back to the drawing board on. In fairness to Meath, they did very well. They have big men around the middle. They dominated there. It is something we will go back to the drawing board on and improve for championship.”