Galway's Conor Whelan 'shocked' by Leinster final black card

Of veteran Daithí Burke, Galway's Conor Whelan explains: 'He's one hell of a guy'

Galway's Conor Whelan on his black card against Dublin: “At the time I collided with him, he did hit the ground, but I thought there was a covering defender there." Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Galway forward Conor Whelan was left “shocked” by the “very harsh” black card he received in the second half of Saturday's Leinster final.

Whelan was black-carded on 55 minutes after pulling down, from behind, Dublin’s Eoghan O’Donnell. The pull-down occurred just outside the 13-metre line and directly in front of the Galway goal.

There were three Galway defenders - Daithí Burke, Darren Morrissey, and Pádraic Mannion - positioned between O’Donnell and Darach Fahy’s goal when Whelan hauled the Dublin defender to the floor.

But despite the presence of these three maroon shirts blocking O'Donnell's route to goal, referee Michael Kennedy deemed a goal-scoring opportunity to have been denied and sent Whelan to the sin bin for 10 minutes.

Donal Burke converted the resulting penalty to bring the numerically advantaged Dubs back within six. Whelan did not mince his words when asked what he thought of the black card call by Kennedy.

“To be honest, I thought it was very harsh,” said Whelan. “At the time I collided with him, he did hit the ground, but I thought there was a covering defender there. That's a refereeing decision, I was shocked, really.

“But credit to the boys, they stepped up and I think we ended up winning a free and a penalty in the next two plays, so that put a bit of breathing space and it made it a little bit easier sitting on the sideline.” 

Former referee Brian Gavin, writing in Monday’s Irish Examiner, believed the correct call to have been made, while Galway manager Micheál Donoghue, speaking in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s 14-point win, felt the punishment outweighed the crime.

“It's a big punishment for the crime when maybe there are bodies back. It's a big call,” said the Tribes boss.

Whelan was one of four members of the Galway starting team collecting their third Leinster medal - alongside Pádraic Mannion, his brother, Cathal, and Daithí Burke.

The quartet are 12 and 13 seasons on the go, respectively. Cathal Mannion was so effective and so comfortable in the deep-lying conductor role. There he was cleaning up breaking ball inside Galway’s 20-metre line and setting his team on the move from as deep as is possible for a guy wearing No.11 on his back.

Older brother, Pádraic, was superb in subduing Donal Burke, while Conor Whelan contributed five points from play and executed the turnover that finished with Galway’s opening goal through Darragh Neary.

And then there’s the eldest of the vastly experienced quartet. Daithí Burke turns 34 in November. The five-time All-Star defender endured an unusually difficult afternoon when the Dubs visited Salthill in the middle of last month. He gifted them an own goal and a jump-start into proceedings in the opening quarter.

Time spent on John Hetherton in the final quarter did not go well. The aerial dominance of the Dublin sub, alongside fellow replacement Ronan Hayes, was the winning of the game for the visitors.

Daithí Burke of Galway in action against John Hetherton of Dublin during the Leinster SHC final. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Hetherton was involved from the off on Saturday. 33-year-old Burke stood beside Hetherton from the off. Such was Burke’s spoiling success in the skies that it was the 66th minute before Hetherton produced a clean fetch in his company. Of the seven first-half deliveries into their space, Hetherton won only one, resulting in a foul by Burke which Dublin mined a white flag from. Indeed, his only sight of goal was while the Galway No.6 was off the field getting strapped up for a knee injury.

“He's one hell of a guy,” said Whelan of Burke. “Even against Wexford the last day, he tore the ligaments on his ankle and still played the whole game. He's probably one of the greatest Galway hurlers of all time, and I suppose we're fortunate enough to be sharing a dressing room with him.

“It's savage for the young lads to see his character and the level that it takes day in, day out. Daithí is a perfect example, really.” 

After the abject Leinster final and All-Ireland quarter-final showings to Kilkenny and Tipperary this time last year, Galway are a team transformed both in personnel and playing style. Only seven of the side that began the 2025 exit to Tipp started against Dublin at GAA HQ over the weekend.

A first piece of championship silverware in eight years stands as tangible progress of the still ongoing turnaround.

“It's massive for the group,” Whelan continued. “We obviously set out at the start of the year to win the Leinster championship, as we've done numerous times, but there was just a feeling this year that things were different.

“You could see early on in the League that we had a clear game plan and style of play, and I think it's fairly fluid and players are able to come in and do a job.

“Obviously, we got stung with a last-second goal against Dublin in the round-robin but overall, our Leinster campaign was very strong and I think we definitely saved the best for the final and that's the aim of the whole championship, to come here to Dublin, playing on a perfect pitch, with this game plan, and going executing it.”