Brian Gavin: Walsh could have blown 20 more frees, but he let a classic flow
During Semi All Dalton Of Walsh Cork Stephen Thomas And Referee Ireland Declan By Final Disagreement: Mccarthy/sportsfile Photo
Good hurling days are often good refereeing days. They go hand-in-hand and it would have been a privilege for Thomas Walsh to take up the Cork-Limerick clash, one of the most anticipated games of the season.
That he added to the match as a contest and a spectacle only topped the day for him. Sure, he could have blown for another 20 frees. Sure, he let a lot of things go but there won’t be too many hurling purists bemoaning his performance.
The big call ultimately didn’t matter but in disallowing what would have been Brian Hayes’ second goal he made the right call. Alan Connolly did appear to throw the ball in passing it to him.
There will be those who rightly point out that there were other examples of throw balls in the game that weren’t whistled – it really has become rampant in hurling – but the biggest decision he got right.
For the benefit of the sport as well as Walsh and other referees, the whole area of the handpass has to be reviewed. If there is no clear striking action, referees should be instructed to give the free.
Walsh did upset the Cork supporters by not awarding a merited free to Ciarán Joyce but blowing against him for overcarrying when the score was 0-4 to 0-1 in Cork’s favour.
I was sitting behind Pat Ryan and both he and his management team were aggrieved with the decision and they were right. It was an early turning point as Limerick reeled off the next three point.
Seamus Flanagan and Eoin Downey were booked for an off-the-ball altercation. A free was deservedly given against Limerick for standing too close to a Cork lineball. In the second half, Alan Connolly’s pull-down, Darragh O’Donovan’s frontal charge on Seamus Harnedy and Gearóid Hegarty’s chop were all correctly penalised with yellow cards.
It was Walsh’s biggest game yet but in my experience All-Ireland semi-finals are usually easier to officiate than other matches. Players are on their best behaviour and don’t want to let their team down by receiving a red card or doing something silly.
That proved to be the case on Saturday when Liam Gordon had a comfortable time of it. However, Gordon had a job to do and he did it well. He blew the obvious seven or eight fouls in the first 10 minutes and kept things tight, which was good to see.
He made life easy for himself as the game developed. His bookings were spot on – Mikey Carey’s, Huw Lawlor’s, Peter Duggan’s foul on Tom Phelan and Richie Reid’s trip on Shane O’Donnell.
It was impossible for any official to see Duggan interfering with Phelan’s faceguard and there is no point anyone complaining he should have received the red card. There was only one camera angle that showed the incident on TV at a later stage.
David Fitzgerald was high with one of his tackles but Gordon was right not to give him a yellow card. He picked up another booking later on for something he said about a lineball.
Also, Gordon was incorrect with a throw ball but from his vantage point it was impossible to say it wasn’t illegal. It had all the characteristics of a throw. He also whistled too quickly when Shane O’Donnell gathered the ball and was in the process of turning Huw Lawlor who had already been yellow carded.
In an earlier column, I mentioned that leaving the sliotars at the white flag was poor protocol. It’s the busiest station so for balls to be there instead of the green flag which isn’t half as hectic makes no sense. The umpire at the Clare goals in the first half was having a difficult time putting up the white flag when Eibhear Quilligan was trying to retrieve the ball in that area. No matter what the goalkeeper says, leave them at the green flag and be done with it.
Aside from those couple of issues, Gordon had a strong game and has improved considerably as the championship has developed. I felt he was thrown into too many big games too early and it was a case of sink or swim. He floundered at times but he’s surely swimming now.
If there is one Limerick man not too unhappy with Sunday’s result, it could be Johnny Murphy. He now comes into the reckoning with his county out although the two semi-final appointments didn’t do themselves much harm.
Obviously, Colm Lyons is ruled out and Seán Stack, with his Clare links, can’t be considered either. Gordon would be more experienced than Walsh and up against Murphy he is probably just ahead performance-wise.
It’s a debate that will be had among the appointments committee this week but for the sake of the referees you’d hope the decision is made early in the week. It's not just the teams that have sideshows to get out of the way in the coming days.
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