It was a bad week for GAA justice. The rejection of the Seamus Callanan and Cathal Barrett appeals has left a sour taste in Tipperary and raises obvious issues about the Association’s commitment to fair play.
The Tipperary delegation to the Central Hearings Committee, it seems, felt very confident that they had made a convincing case in both instances and there was dismay when the verdicts were relayed. ‘Not sufficiently compelling to rebut the referee’s report’, was the reason given for the rejection of the appeals.
‘Not sufficiently compelling’? You have a camera with a full-on, frontal view of the incident between Seamus Callanan and his marker where no striking could be seen and yet it was deemed insufficient to rebut a charge of striking. The camera doesn’t lie, folks, but I suppose if you’re determined to uphold the referee’s report, come what may, then you’ll use any fudge available.
This might be bearable – just about – if it was a consistent policy but clearly it’s not. Any fair-minded neutral looking at the Pat Horgan incident from the 2013 Munster final must surely be baffled as to how the Cork man deserved exoneration but Callanan didn’t. Or Henry Shefflin from the qualifier the same year? Or even Jonjo Farrell in a recent league match?
Incidentally I think the referees erred in the cases of Horgan, Shefflin and Farrell and therefore the decisions to rescind the cards were correct. However, the error was every whit as obvious with Callanan – even more obvious when compared to the Pat Horgan incident – and yet we have an entirely different outcome. Why the double standard?
Prior to this appeal being heard I was being told by email that Tipperary had no chance of success because unlike Cork or Kilkenny they have no friends in Croke Park. If that is the case then it is a sad indictment of the Association. I’m now hearing ‘I told you so’ from the same correspondents. Couple this with the ‘special’ treatment of Peter Creedon and you may well see a pattern emerge.
Anyway the players and Eamon O’Shea have decided that there will be no further appeal attempt. Understandably they see it as a distraction to the team which wants to now look ahead to the league semi-final. I understand their attitude though the dogged part of me hates seeing injustice thrive. You know another aspect of this affair that really irks me too: the deafening silence of the national media. Some parts of that media corps were well able to kick up a stink over Horgan or Shefflin but have now suddenly pressed the mute button.
In other affairs the changes to the playing rules come into force this Saturday so all concerned would do well to take note. The one-on-one penalty is the most eye-catching but there are other aspects too such as the advantage rule. I’ve read the missive from Croke Park outlining the alterations and one aspect of the advantage rule puzzles me.
A referee can now allow an advantage for up to five seconds and if no advantage accrues then he can call back play for the original foul. That’s fair enough but then it states that if the player being given the five-seconds advantage commits a foul himself within that time then the free will be given against him and the advantage effectively cancelled.
A typical scenario here would be where a player is bearing down on goal and gets fouled; then when he’s given the five-seconds advantage he over-carries. Under the new stipulation he’ll now have a free awarded against him instead of having the original foul penalised.
What now follows will probably read like sacrilege in a GAA column: I think the rugby fraternity has got this one right. In rugby, if the team being given advantage commits an infringement within the allotted time, then the referee comes back to the original foul. That makes perfect sense to me, unlike the GAA scenario. Anyway we’ll see how in pans out.
The quest by Thurles CBS for a second All Ireland colleges’ title came up tantalisingly short at the Stadium on Saturday last. A brave effort by the Tipp lads just wasn’t enough as hot favourites, St. Kieran’s, took their 20th title.
The margin was three at the interval and three at the end and that pretty well summed up the minimal gap between two fine sides. In fairness the Kilkenny lads looked the slicker side and Thurles spent most of the time chasing the game. They showed typical resolve in the chase but it just wasn’t enough.
When you’re tackling strong favourites you need a break or two and in that regard the CBS was luckless. A few fleeting goal chances just escaped them when they lacked a little composure near goal. Even the last point, whipped over by Drom’s Robbie Long, might easily have gone under and the referee was a bit too hasty in not allowing advantage on one of their final attacks. Small things decided it and Thurles deserve huge credit for a mighty effort that just fell short. They’ll still remember their Harty year with great pride.
Hopefully the Abbey CBS will cap a memorable year too this Saturday when they chase an All Ireland senior football ‘B’ crown at Croke Park. They’ll be outsiders against Carlow CBS but, like Thurles, they’ve shown fine resolve all season and hopefully it will get its reward. It would be a fitting one for team mentor, Damien O’Brien, who played a key role in the school’s last success at headquarters back in 1998, scoring seven points in an historic win over St. Louis Grammar School, Ballymena. Good luck to them on Saturday.
Finally it’s not the time of year when you expect to see GAA publications rolling off the presses; the Christmas market is a more typical target. Yet Tipperary native and long-time Kilkenny resident, Jim Fogarty, has stepped into the breach with his latest gem. Remember in 2012 he produced ‘The Dan Breen Cup’ chronicling Tipperary county S.H. finals from 1931 to 2011. Well this time he’s gone inter-county with ‘The Cross of Cashel’, a compilation of fifty years of All Ireland U21 hurling finals. Actually he covers fifty-one finals from Tipperary’s win in the competition’s launch year of 1964 to the completion of Clare’s hat-trick of titles in 2014.
It’s a beautiful production covering half a century of finals in a grade that’s sometimes maligned but regularly produces marvellous hurling spectacle. Don’t expect long, meandering accounts of fixtures and finals. Instead, true to form, Jim is both concise and precise. Each final is distilled down to its essentials, a memory-jogger if you will for many followers. It’s for the browser more than the bookworm.
The photographs, I’d suggest, will be a major selling point for this production. By pulling together all those finals into one neat, colourful production it provides followers with an excellent resource. Eight different counties have won the All Ireland U21 hurling crown, which should ensure quite a wide audience for this worthwhile production.
The title, ‘The Cross of Cashel’, comes from the trophy presented to the winner, which is a replica of an old Celtic Cross from the Rock of Cashel – no filling of cups with this handful! The trophy was first presented by Dr. Morris to fellow Tipperary man, P.J. Ryan of Carrick, after the premier county defeated Dublin in the 1967 decider.
The book should be available soon in most local towns or otherwise you can contact the author at 086 1512946 or at email jkfog1@gmail.com. Tipperary has won the title nine times so there should be no shortage of local interest in this book.
By Jonathan Cullen Thu 9th Apr
