This Sporting Life With Derrick Lynch & Eoghan Moloney

Let’s make one thing abundantly clear from the outset this week. I have the utmost respect for referees and officials, and I do not envy the job they have to do.

It’s often thankless, and particularly in the GAA with all the new rules and regulations being thrown at them, it’s actually reaching the impossible stage. They have to make split second decisions in games where the pace and power of players is ever-increasing, and Hawk-Eye aside, the resistance to introducing technology to aid officials is hindering real progress. I know, I’ve been that solider in the middle trying to keep tabs on it all once upon a time.

All that being said, there is an onus on referees and all those at the top levels of administration to ensure that the people who are in charge of games are operating at the same standard as those who they officiate. All too often we have seen games turned on their heads because of a refereeing call which has subsequently being proven incorrect. You only have to look at that ‘goal’ in the Waterford v Tipperary Munster championship tie last year. A wrong decision that turned a game, and had the potential to be a season definer too. That’s not right or fair. In the modern game, players are sacrificing too much to have games turned like that. Why can’t the GAA accept that all it would take for incidents like that to be called correctly would be a quick glance at a few camera angles, radio down to the ref, and get the decision right.

You’re probably thinking all this is coming from that red card to Tony Kelly on Saturday night, and you’d be right. There’s just simply no way it was justified. Two players came together in a high-speed collision, and Kelly was wrongly punished. Now, let me go back to the opening of this piece. I don’t envy the job Colm Lyons and his officials had to do. They had a split second to see the incident themselves, and judged that Kelly had come in high on Padraic Maher. If they had the benefit of even one minute to look back over the TV replays, would the decision have been the same? I doubt it somehow.

There’s a bigger issue at play here, and that is the lack of flexibility that is afforded referees to apply that all important ingredient of common sense. There is a distinct difference between malicious fouls, and accidental collisions. Surely officials should be given the leeway to differentiate between the two as it unfolds in front of them? There is a real sense that there’s an increasing influence coming from the assessors in the stand, with referees eager to tick the right boxes, so they stay in the good books and keep getting the high profile games. Does the paint by numbers approach necessarily mean that a referee has made a better job of a game than one who is willing to use a bit more cop on? Not in my book.

This was highlighted in the incident which led to Clare’s penalty on Saturday night. Colin Guilfoyle was being mauled on the edge of the Tipperary square, but in an act of brilliance and defiance, he managed to snap the ball up one-handed and lashed it over the bar. Cue frustration from the big Newmarket man as Colm Lyons dispensed with the advantage rule and awarded a Clare penalty. Surely the advantage had accrued with Guilfoyle putting the ball over the bar? As it turned out, Niall Deasy buried the penalty but imagine if he had missed. Where was the advantage to Clare from that?

Games cannot be played without referees and officials, and they fill a vital role. That is not being questioned. What is being questioned is the standards that are applied, and the expectations that are placed on them. It’s high time that action replays are brought into play to allow referees at the highest level to get the big calls right. Players should decide the outcome of games, not officials.

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Eoghan Moloney

IN his post-match interview, Donal Moloney reminded people that it is only January and while last Saturday’s loss to Tipp was disappointing, there is plenty to work on and plenty of time to do that work.

Due to playing into a gale and rain, the short puck-out game had to be employed and Clare were forced into carrying the ball for the first half but Tipp’s forwards hunted in packs with such ferocity that the Clare backs were under constant, unabated pressure. When they received possession, there was little option but to get rid of it as quickly as they could and this played directly into Tipperary’s hands, as they had Pádraic Maher sweeping and he dictated the game for periods due to the frequency with which high ball rained down on him.

Maher was able to collect possession time and again and distribute to Tipperary forwards that were certainly in the mood. It was a losing battle for almost the entirety of the first half.

Clare did turn the tide and were eating into Tipperary’s advantage when Tony Kelly was harshly shown the line. This stopped all Clare momentum in its tracks and two Seamie Callanan goals within eight minutes of the red card ended the game as a contest.

It is hard to take positives from a game in which Clare managed only three scores from play but this was a Clare team with a lot of inexperience in its ranks. Between injuries, players just coming back into the fold and Fitzgibbon Cup fixtures, this is the time to sample players who may be classed as on the fringes of the 26-man match-day panel or even the 36-man squad. You don’t want to be figuring out who is up to it and who isn’t in the latter rounds of the league or even the early rounds of the Munster championship. Get the experimentation out of the way early, or run the risk of doing what Tipperary did last year, which was going through the league not knowing their best team and then suffering for it in the championship.

The Tipp team that Clare faced is not far off the 15 who they will go to war with in Munster. They will obviously add back into the fold John McGrath, Jason Forde and Bubbles O’Dwyer but this is a more settled team than the Banner’s 15 and this league encounter was more of a reflection of where Tipp are now than where Clare are.
Kilkenny are next up for the Banner this Sunday in Cusack Park and they are in a similar place to Clare at the moment, with regards to the depletion of their squad but for different reasons. The Ballyhale Shamrocks contingent are missing due to their upcoming All-Ireland semi-final against Ballygunner, so they are now trialling some players. A lot of these young players acquitted themselves with aplomb in their facile victory over Cork last weekend. Kevin Kelly was solid in his free-taking duties and Huw Lawlor and Tommy Walsh impressed in the full-back line.

This will be an interesting game in which the experimentation should continue. This is a chance for the likes of Guilfoyle, Ryan, the McCarthy brothers and Ryan Taylor to show their worth in what may be a more suitable fixture this week. Clare must work to supply their full-forward line with better quality ball than they received in Thurles. At times, ‘aimless’ was being complimentary to the ball going in and more of the time, it was hopeless. This needs to be rectified and Clare’s defenders must not be outworked by the Kilkenny forwards when trying to establish a foundation from which to create attacking opportunities. Colin Guilfoyle was isolated for much of the first half and starved of opportunity. The one ball that did make its way to him yielded a penalty.

If Clare offer more support to their colleagues after primary possession has been won in defence, it is a great opportunity to put two points on the board but, more importantly, it is a chance for some of the younger guns to make an impression after a slow start to the league.