Sometimes in hurling, you need an old break. I’d be very sympathetic to Waterford and their championship exit.
It didn’t exactly bring back happy memories to see two goals scored in a minute and a team left crushed.
All it did was remind me of my time in charge of Limerick and the 1994 All-Ireland final when Offaly hit us with the two goals.
It brought back some very bad memories. Waterford can take great credit for the nature of their performance but you can’t cash that cheque anywhere.
To add insult to injury, the second goal should have been disallowed and pulled back for a free out after Aidan O’Connor dropped his hurley in passing the ball to Gearóid Hegarty.
In this case, Waterford were definitely on the receiving end of an awful refereeing decision.
Tis all fine to say, ‘all is fair in love and war’. That these things happen. But I’ve been through the mill.
Seen every side of wrong decisions as manager or coach of team. Been on the wrong side of very, very poor refereeing decisions.
Gearóid Hegarty, whose goal should not have stood last week, gets past Jamie Barron
But in this day and age, this simply isn’t good enough.
Where were the two umpires who were looking out at the play? Or the linesman on either side? This isn’t just on referee James Owens who likely had Jamie Barron in his line of sight.
But it was a blatant free out. Replays quickly showed that. In the wake of Waterford’s exit, the issue has been glossed over.
Well it shouldn’t.
There’s constant talk of using technology to aid the big decisions. Whether a form of VAR should be brought in.
The first thing is to acknowledge that at Championship knockout level, those decisions have to be got right.
Hurling, at the moment, is next to impossible to referee.
A lot of what is happening now in the game all goes back to the type of play that’s being coached.
Referee James Owens could not be blamed
We never had more frees in matches. More incidents being disputed.
When I had Limerick at the top level, in four Championship years I never had a player sent off.
And that was do-or-die knock-out hurling. No backdoor, no second or third chance.
Just to draw a comparison. The average number of frees conceded by Limerick in my time in charge was eight per game.
Now there’s 20 and 30 frees against teams. We’re only counting down the days to 40 frees being awarded.
Unfortunately, the game is now being coached in a way as to make it more difficult for referees.
And that has consequences.
Now the first goal should have been cleared by Waterford. That was down to feck-acting at the back.
But if those two goals hadn’t gone in, one after the other, Waterford could easily have won the match and put a hugely different slant on their year – and on the last round of Munster matches.
The consequences of losing because of a big decision like that are so serious that there will have to be a serious rethink by the GAA and the rules committee and by referees as well.
Waterford have been cursed since the round-robin came in. In saying that, they have to look at themselves and the whole situation in the county with Ballygunner. I’ve always said in this column that they’ve great hurlers. I’ve huge respect for them.
But Ballygunner’s run to 12 county titles in a row has created its own internal issues. Waterford need to get the right people around a table and get complete buy-in and loyalty and support.
Former Kilkenny captain Andy Comerford
I remember my first championship match in 1994 was against Cork when I pulled a team together out of nothing.
I was approached by Patrickswell when I went in as manager.
The club and their officials came to me and said they wanted to win the All-Ireland club championship and they didn’t want their players training with me.
They were county champions. I told them where to go. You need strong leadership – that’s what’s badly lacking in Waterford.
It’s no good crying about the round robin or the lack of home games when Walsh Park was being redeveloped.
If that’s your mentality, if you’re getting bogged down in the blame game, then you’re at nothing.
Back to the action though and the big game in Leinster between Dublin and Kilkenny at Parnell Park.
Dublin’s win over Galway in Salthill shows how they are one of the most mature teams left in the competition.
Never mind Andy Comerford saying this Dublin team isn’t any great shakes. I think the impetus is with Dublin at the moment, more so than Kilkenny. We wrote Kilkenny off after the opening round defeat to Galway but they’ve had two wins since. But they’re not the Kilkenny of old.
In Parnell Park, in front of a full house, this should be a fantastic Championship occasion. Dublin have the bench as well to swing it.
The writing has been on the wall for a while for Kilkenny. They owe nothing to anyone.
It was always a big job for Derek Lyng to take over from Brian Cody. But the Kilkenny style should be left alone. This year, they’ve made a mess of changing the style or system of play.
A few top players are unavailable – that can’t be helped. But it’s not the end of the world either if they are knocked out.
There’s an awful lot of talk about strong hurling counties. Munster has been hyped and blown up between the crowds and the media but the standard was brutal at times this year. Sure Tipperary didn’t turn up at all.
The Championship needs a freshness. Dublin have the wind at their backs and I think they’ll win.
Dublin have the wind at their backs adn the game at Parnell Park should be a great occasion
Dump the manuals, hurling’s being f***ed up by systems
I’M after spending a month out of action, still recuperating after a hospital stay. But I have to give credit to the Munster under-20 hurling final between Clare and Tipperary last week. It was simply outstanding – the skill, the tradition, the honesty of the whole evening lifted me no end.
The following day, I was in with the Limerick county board academy when I met the coaches loading boxes of stuff into the boots of cars and vans.
‘What’s in the boxes?’ I asked.
‘Coaching manuals,’ I was told.
‘Well take them out of there and dump them. Get a video of the under-20 final and show that – that’s the only coaching manual you need.’
That’s my firm belief.
Hurling is being f***ed up by systems, analysts and some people who haven’t a clue.
