Lohan: 'I'd like to see a better standard of refereeing, and I don't think we're getting it' 

FRUSTRATED: Clare manager Brian Lohan with his Dublin counterpart Niall Ó Ceallacháin after their All-Ireland SHC quarter final in in Thurles. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Clare hurling manager Brian Lohan is calling on Croke Park to provide a better standard of refereeing. Repeatedly, he has expressed the viewpoint to the powers that be, but says he ‘is ignored.’ 

Now in his seventh season in charge of the Banner, he outlined his concerns again after Saturday’s All-Ireland SHC quarter-final win over Dublin in FBD Semple Stadium - a victory marred by a serious high-tackle injury to David Reidy in the 67th minute that necessitated the Éire Óg Ennis player be removed from the pitch by stretcher and hospitalised.

Dublin’s Brendan Kenny received a straight red card from referee James Owens as the game was held up for a lengthy period.

The Clare manager also confirmed that Conor Cleary was taken to hospital with an upper limb injury, while David McInerney picked up a leg injury.

Last month Ryan Taylor and Mark Rodgers were both ruled out of Clare’s last round-robin game against Cork having been forced off in the Tipperary triumph eight days earlier. The two players successfully returned to action on Saturday night.

At the time, it was a head injury that Rodgers suffered too.

“Mark is coming back from a head injury as well. It's an area that I think the GAA has to look at.

“Over the last couple of years, it was accepted that anything around the head was a straight red, but that seems to have slipped this year, and certainly we have suffered a number of injuries around the area of concussion, so it is something that the GAA are going to have to look at and the referees are going to have to look at.” 

Recently, a survey exploring the playing rules of hurling developed by the Hurling Advisory Committee and is chaired by former manager John Meyler was launched.

Managers are one of the main stakeholders urged to partake.

"I've written to Croke Park on numerous occasions in relation to refereeing, in relation to incidents in games, and I'm ignored. So I don't know, the survey might be fine. Well I don't know if I'm ignored, but certainly I'm not getting any kind of satisfaction. So it's certainly an area that the GAA need to look at.

“I'd like to see action out on the field and I'd like to see a better standard of refereeing, and I don't think we're getting it.” 

On the game itself, the 13-point victory was built around Clare’s second-half display. It comes one month after succumbing by 16 points to the Rebels.

“First half was mixed, first quarter good, second quarter not so good. And then in the third and fourth quarters, we used the ball better than we had been doing in that second quarter and got a better return.

“We struggled very badly in that second quarter on our own puck out and they got a good amount of scores from that. That is an area we have to work on obviously. “I am happy enough with the second-half performance and some good things in the first half and some things we have to work on.

“Good to win, good to get the performance, patchy enough performance. Very little in it at half-time. We pulled away and did the job we had to do.” 

After the game Dublin manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin prioritised the well-being of David Reidy before evaluating a comprehensive defeat.

“From a game perspective, Clare started off really well. We started off slow. They had all the energy for the first 15 minutes. It looked grim at that point. Our lads responded really, really well to go in at half-time there three points down.

“We were set up well for the second-half, and that we would kick on, but we didn't kick on. Heavy loss in the end.

“Our shooting efficiency is what let us down there. Shot count, there wasn't much in it. We had seven shots on goal and no goal, so we'll never know. A heavy defeat, but if we had taken one or two of those chances, you don't know.

“That game could have looked very different if we had taken two, three, or four of those opportunities. Suddenly you are in a very different spot. I am sure we will look back on a lot of things going back over the year, but lack of goalscoring opportunities, some games we absolutely did. We created seven opportunities and on most days you'll score a couple of goals, but fair play to (Éibhear) Quilligan there.”