John Fogarty
AS if they need reminding, heartbreak has been a long-standing friend of Donegal and Mayo. But perceived injustice has also been an old acquaintance.
Donegal got that unwelcome slap on the back in 2003 when Ray Sweeney picked up an extremely harsh second yellow card for a tackle on Oisín McConville in the All-Ireland semi-final against Armagh.
Up until that stage, Donegal had the measure of the then reigning All-Ireland champions. With Sweeney absent, Stevie McDonnell made the most of his size advantage on Niall McCready when a high ball was pumped his way and his goal broke them.
Ask most Armagh players now and they’ll likely admit the full-back’s dismissal swung the balance of the game.
In some quarters in Mayo, Pat McEnaney is still persona non grata after what happened in the 1996 final replay against Meath.
Sending off Liam McHale as well as Colm Coyle after the infamous early brawl, it was felt the Monaghan native had been harsh on the Ballina man who was the team’s leading light and had set the tone for Meath to exert their physicality for the rest of the game.
Kevin McStay recalled a moment in 2008 when McEnaney joined him, John Maughan and George Golden for a cup of tea in the Croke Park hotel.
“When Pat left our company, I mentioned what a sound guy he is and all agreed. But in unison, we asked out loud, what in the name of God was he thinking about that damned day?
“Until the cup arrives back to the Sweet Plains, I expect that day will continue to haunt us.”
Like for every All-Ireland final, we pray that a dubious refereeing or official’s decision doesn’t affect the result.
But Sunday is different. Forget the novelty for a second and realise that there’s more at stake. In 1996, Frank Skinner and David Baddiel sang about England’s 30 years of hurt. Try 61.
The 20 Donegal have been waiting for only their second All-Ireland final have been no picnic either, full of abject failures and what-might-have-beens.
So much emotion is invested in this game being officiated right and everything being fair that Maurice Deegan needs all the help he can get.
The Laois native is an excellent referee. He’s not a bad linesman either, highlighting to Marty Duffy in July’s Leinster final that Eoghan O’Gara’s second-half kick was a point and not, as the referee’s umpire adjudged, a wide.
We remarked at the time that the big screen’s replaying of the kick and the crowd’s reaction appeared to play a part in Deegan’s decision to alert Duffy. But that suggestion was later quashed by Croke Park who stated he had, in fact, seen the shot go between the posts in real time.
But on that very subject of technology, why shouldn’t Hawk-Eye score technology be used on Sunday? Even if, as we have been told, its accuracy levels are in the high 90s surely that is more than good enough for the time being?
We’ve also been told that its results are too slow and might contribute to delays in the game. It has been speculated that it will being used sparingly if needs be by referees in Croke Park.
Earlier this week, GAA director general Páraic Duffy said the system could be good to roll out for next March’s All-Ireland senior club finals in Croke Park.
He also said it wasn’t ready for this year but mentioned that the wind, height and post issues it had encountered were now resolved.
As things stand, Hawk-Eye technology will be in operation in Croke Park on Sunday but not in a live capacity.
Yet if the GAA has in its possession knowledge that would give a 98% accurate assessment of a score attempt, why shouldn’t the players, managers, supporters and everyone else been informed of it?
So what if Hawk-Eye can’t, at this moment, give the referee almost instantaneous decisions; it can still contribute to a better game.
In last Sunday week’s All-Ireland senior hurling final, Richie Power was eventually awarded a point despite referee Barry Kelly having to overrule one of his umpires who had deemed it had gone wide.
We remain in the dark about that one. While Davy Glennon’s controversial free at the end hogged the column inches and airwaves, the validity of Power’s strike wasn’t any less important.
While Kelly’s decision to penalise Jackie Tyrrell was to some extent a matter of opinion, Hawk-Eye would have spelt out in black and white whether or not Power’s shot was good.
Donegal and Mayo, we can’t forget, have also benefitted from dubious scoring incidents under Jim McGuinness and James Horan.
Last year, Kildare’s Tomás O’Connor was denied a legitimate goal in the All-Ireland quarter-final against Donegal as David Coldrick whistled him for a square ball infringement. A grossly difficult decision for Coldrick to make, the GAA have since relaxed the square ball rule.
In this July’s Connacht final against Sligo, Mayo’s Colm Boyle was awarded a point despite plenty of people claiming it hadn’t gone wide. Mayo won the game by two points.
Referees, as we’ve seen in their reluctance to issue red cards in All-Ireland semi-finals (Deegan, remembering Diarmuid Connolly last year, excluded), treat finals with as much reverence as anyone else.
A repeat of Boyle’s dubious score on Sunday would be monumentally bad. On this great day and it being the most historic in recent times, anything that can be done to such contentious occurrences should be welcomed.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/c-_TqV22xzI/post.aspx
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