Brian Gavin: For All-Ireland ref, sad reality is critics will focus on 10% that went wrong

In Johnny Murphy’s case, he had made a couple of bad calls against Cork in the second half of normal time. But then in the dying seconds of extra-time, Conor Leen pulled the jersey of Robbie O’Flynn as the Cork forward attempted to score a point and bring the final to a replay. It went unspotted.

About 90% of this game went right for Murphy and yet when everything is boiled down that won’t matter. He won’t be given his dues for great advantage and adding to a spectacle of a game. He won’t be credited for the deserved yellow cards he handed out.

I have no doubt that if Murphy had seen the foul on Robbie O’Flynn, he would have blown for it but there was silence, O’Flynn’s strike went wide and the Limerick man soon followed it with the final whistle.

In the second half of normal time, neither he or his umpires at the Hill 16 end saw that Seamus Harnedy shot was deflected off a Clare player and should have been a Cork 65. The trajectory of his shot indicated that it had hit something on the way over the endline and the replay on the big screens established that.

In the 51st minute, Alan Connolly and David McInerney were yellow carded for an off-the-ball, on-the-ground row. Two minutes from the end of normal time, McInerney brought down O’Flynn just as a goal chance appeared to be materialising.

Murphy acknowledged there was a free and then went into his umpires to decide whether it was a goal-scoring opportunity worthy of a penalty and a black card for McInerney.

At worst, Murphy should have booked McInerney and sent him off. It may have seemed like another Clare defender was providing cover and therefore a goal wasn’t on but McInerney’s foul was cynical.

It was a huge moment in the game as Clare would have also been down to 14 men in additional time on the back of the new rule that was introduced earlier in the year.

It’s a genuine pity for Murphy that those three calls went against the one team because for so much of this game he had allayed fears he was going to be pernickety and make this a battle of the free-takers. 

As Sylvester Stallone’s famous character said after beating Ivan Drago in “Rocky IV”, “If I can change, and you can change, everybody can change!” Murphy just did that. It wasn’t until the ninth minute, eight minutes and 20 seconds, that he gave the first free. He didn’t have to lay down the law because he was giving great advantage.

I won’t excuse Murphy for the McInerney decision but he had received a cut on his head before that – I know from experience in 2011 that can upset your flow in a final. However, when extra-time came around he was clearly feeling the effects of the game’s pace as much as the players.

Should Liam Gordon, his stand-by referee and linesman, have come in at that stage? No referee would be inclined to surrender a final, they want to finish what they started, but Murphy was struggling with fatigue.

And he had begun so brightly. There were several times when he played the slow whistle and interacted with his team of officials brilliantly. Conor Cleary and Adam Hogan could have no gripes with their yellow cards having had their names tagged before then.

Also, his umpires at the Davin Stand end were correct to refer to HawkEye on a couple of occasions when the sliotar had passed above the post and was therefore difficult to determine.

Murphy was communicating well with players. Declan Dalton was spoken to for a high arm on Tony Kelly. Yellow cards like those late ones for Shane Meehan and Ger Millerick were the result of good teamwork.

At the end, a Cork official appeared to be letting Murphy know all about what he thought of him. Cork, when they look back on it, will know they were unfortunate with the breaks but they were as much the masters of their downfall in not playing to their potential rather than looking at the referee. And that’s not to take any of the blame away from Murphy, but I sensed from some Cork fans at the game that their greatest disappointment was with their team’s performance.

As for next weekend, Seán Hurson’s experience of 2022 seems to have been a deciding factor in his appointment for the All-Ireland senior football final. Brendan Cawley was an excellent candidate for the game and I have no doubt will take charge of two or three finals in the future.

His patience will be rewarded but for now the Tyrone man is considered the safest pair of hands. Hurson doesn’t make too many mistakes and he is an understandable choice.