Brian Gavin: Exceptional James Owens performance - but Lynch's low blow is costly for Limerick

Jab by former hurler of the year was silly, costly and will serve as a reminder to Kiely and managers that there is less and less chance of the off-the-ball stuff not being picked up on

SEEING RED: Limerick wizard Cian Lynch is shown a straight red card by referee James Owens at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

We were blessed with these two cracking Munster championship games on Sunday. Two matches that were officiated well, in particular the one in Páirc Uí Chaoimh by James Owens.

James obviously made the major decision of the two in dismissing Cian Lynch for jabbing Tim O’Mahony not once, but twice in the groin area. Lynch might not have known where he has putting the butt of the hurley but he sure knew that he was looking to make contact with his opponent.

Lynch is a supreme hurler who plays on the edge but it seemed an act of pure frustration. That doesn’t make it any way less wrong. Lynch should know that there’s very little you can get away with now especially in a championship match. There are eight officials and if they don’t catch it, then the Central Competitions Control Committee likely will.

In the Cork-Limerick league game last year, Seamus Flanagan avoided sanction for a similar low blow on Niall O’Leary. It was dealt with at the time by referee Seán Stack, so it couldn’t be looked at retrospectively. Nevertheless, Limerick chose to punish him internally and John Kiely must be disappointed with Lynch too.

It was silly, it was costly and whatever about the red card it will serve as a reminder to Kiely and managers that there is less and less chance of the off-the-ball stuff not being picked up on.

Can you say Limerick lost the game because of it? I’m not sure but their job became more difficult a man down and on top of Aaron Gillane they will now be without their captain for what you would think is a must-win game for them against Clare in Ennis next Sunday.

Otherwise James Owens let the game flow, blowing his whistle for frees just 16 times and the first came as late as the 12th minute. He rightly booked Nickie Quaid for a hit on Alan Connolly as the Cork man scored his goal and Seán O’Donoghue and Shane O’Brien were yellow carded for their spat.

Limerick could be aggrieved the free Mark Coleman won when he looked to have over-carried before being fouled and Connolly sent it over the bar.

Nevertheless, in a game of such high pressure and magnitude, in what his second appointment in as many weekends, Owens did exceptionally well.

Later in Walsh Park, the Waterford-Tipperary game was Chris Mooney’s biggest job yet after doing well in the National League. He could be generally happy with his performance, although he can be a little more confident in his decision-making. That should come in time.

Waterford manager Peter Queally followed Liam Cahill last week in being booked for dissent and a free was brought in as a result. Whatever people feel about it, the rule is there and it will have to be adhered to on the sidelines.

Early into the second half, Waterford were disappointed to concede a penalty when John McGrath was adjudged to have been pulled back by Mark Fitzgerald. I doubt if it was anywhere else in the field, it would have been but fortunately for Waterford the penalty shot was saved.

Other calls by Mooney were spot on like the booking for Ronan Maher and Mark Fitzgerald for careless use of the hurl and John McGrath for a frontal charge.

In Salthill, Thomas Gleeson relied a bit too much on his linesman Stack. The evening before, Johnny Murphy had a relatively stress-free encounter as Kilkenny took over in the second half. He disallowed Eoin Cody’s goal for charging, something referees are welcomingly stamping out on this year.

All in all, it’s been a very encouraging opening two weekends in the Liam MacCarthy Cup for referees, which is required when there are some officials unavailable at the moment.

Football-wise, there were a couple of instances of shadowing or screening in the Munster semi-final between Clare and Kerry in Ennis on Saturday.

Mike Breen did as much to Ikem Ugwueru for a David Clifford score in the first half although it didn’t seem a body collide, which would have resulted in a free out to Clare.

Likewise, Tony Brosnan made contact with Ugwueru as Clifford’s shot dropped short and found the net in the 61st minute. It was borderline but didn’t seem deliberate enough to warrant punishment. Eventually, Clifford was exasperated by the close attentions of Ugwueru and was rightly black carded.

In the Galway-Leitrim Connacht semi-final in Carrick-on-Shannon, Galway goalkeeper Conor Flaherty was harshly done by in receiving a black card and conceding a penalty. Niall Cullen sent him to the bin for 10 minutes, but it didn’t warrant that punishment.