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You are > Home > A major, not a Wee, injustice
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Wednesday, July 14, 2010
A major, not a Wee, injustice
BY ANTHONY HENNIGAN
IT was turning out to be a superb weekend for the GAA, what with Wexford’s footballers shocking Galway and the still emerging Dublin hurlers ousting a more traditional power from the championship race, yet it descended into as horrific an experience a sporting enthusiast could witness.
Chasing their first provincial title in over half a century, it seemed certain that the men of Louth were about to end their long wait and mock their pre-match 4-1 two horse race odds. That was up until Meath’s Joe Sheridan and ball rolled into the Louth goal with as blatant an illegal act as the rulebook states. Arriving in the fourth minute of three minutes injury time, it was more a try than a goal, one Sheridan’s county-man Shane Horgan would have been proud of if wearing the green of Ireland on Six Nations duty at Croke Park.
But this was Leinster Final day at GAA headquarters, one of Gaelic football’s biggest showpiece events of the year, an occasion that should set the standards by which others follow.
In fairness the pundits weren’t for hiding; they were quickly screaming through the television exactly what we were screaming ourselves, that no way can this result be allowed to stand. But a bit like a penalty being cold comfort to Ghana when a certain goal was prevented by the handball by Uruguay’s Suarez, you wonder what good would a replay be to Louth considering victory should already be theirs?
Ghana were unable to capitalise on their last gasp spot kick and so lost on penalties after a scoreless extratime period. Suarez had successfully cheated his team into the World Cup semi-finals. Similarly, you sense Meath would not be as accommodating to a Louth victory were the teams to meet again. Meath would have cheated their way to the Delaney Cup and an All-Ireland quarter-final.
The injustice served upon Ghana moved commentators to suggest that referees should have the power to award a penalty goal for something so blatant as a deliberate handball on the line. But what will be the Wee County’s recompense after something so deliberate as Sheridan’s act that denied them such a precious victory? And besides, in contrast to ‘Ghana-gate’, the controversy last Sunday generated from what the referee didn’t see.
By now there’ll have been enough said and written about the disgraceful manhandling and mistreatment of Martin Sludden, and there’s no doubt the Tyrone man has spectacularly succeeded Galway referee Jimmy Cooney – he of the infamous Offaly sit down protest – in the annals of GAA supporters’ ‘Most Wanted’. But quite how the ire of Louth was directed more at Sludden and not the two umpires, neither of whom had any excuse not to spot the wrongdoing, is beyond me.
The fall out and response will be fascinating.
Taking stock
IS there a lesson for learning after Big Joe’s inglorious first (and some wonder, last) season as Galway manager?
Mayo football seeks a manager to raise it from the embers of a disastrous championship campaign and as to candidates to fill the bainestoir bib vacated by John O’Mahony, high-profile Kerry men were among two of the top three preferences of supporters who participated in Mid West Radio’s recent text poll.
Despite what Paidi Ó Sé might believe, neither he or poll-topper Mick O’Dwyer, both dripping in All-Ireland silverware, could “nearly guarantee” Mayo an All-Ireland title.
How could they? If the best Joe Kernan could do with Galway was scramble Division 1 survival, scrape to victory in New York and lose consecutive games to Sligo and Wexford, that speaks volumes about the overall standard of Connacht football at present. Roscommon are Connacht finalists in the same year they have been relegated to National League Division 4.
Of course the repeated injuries incurred by Michael Meehan were a major hindrance to Galway this season, and you’d have to believe that a fully fit and available Meehan would have been the difference between Galway losing and winning either of their Connacht semi-final clashes with Sligo.
But we are yet to see Kerry suffer dramatically despite the loss of key players to Australia and suspension, and Tyrone have never wallowed in self-pity when numerous injuries have blighted their recent campaigns? And I recall the Kilkenny hurlers winning one of their four-in-row All-Irelands minus Henry Shefflin, who was sidelined with a cruciate injury.
If any team is as dependent on one or two players, as is the case of Galway for whom 33-year-old Padraig Joyce remains the outstanding force, then what chance has any manager, no matter his pedigree. Can you really make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear?
A quick fix wasn’t the answer for Galway. Is Mayo football that different?
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