February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
UCD were denied a replay against James Stephens of Kilkenny in the Leinster club hurling final after a wrong call by an umpire. Late in the game, Richie Hayes of James Stephens took a shot for goal, but the sliotar clearly hit the post and went wide. The ball hit the netting behind the goal and bounced back out, which may have confused the umpire, who was perfectly placed under the shot. A week later in the Munster club football final between Stradbally of Waterford and Clare champions Kilmurry-Ibrickane, the Waterford club were denied a point after a wrong call from one of the umpires and the game ended in a draw.
“A lot of umpires used in club matches could do with more training,” Mulvihill said. “If you look at our experience with the Australian Football League, it has shown us that they use very young officials as their goal umpires. The fact that they are younger means there is a fair chance they have better eyesight. It could happen that there are umpires operating at some of our games who have poor eyesight and it’s not picked up under our present regulations.”
There are, of course, problems. At club and indeed at county level referees pick their own four umpires, normally colleagues from their same club, who travel together as a team. Referees would be slow to drop their friends. However, at the top level, umpires are chosen by Croke Park.
Video evidence always shows up an umpire’s errors, but under GAA rules it cannot change the result, unless the county who benefits from an error offers a replay. This has happened a few times in recent years, but not this year.
CARLOW FOLLOW TREND
The trend in the GAA of appointing managers from outside the county continues. The appointment of former Meath star Liam Hayes as Carlow boss means that of the 31 intercounty football managers appointed for 2005, 14 are from outside the county they will manage. (Kilkenny don’t field a senior football team.)
Meanwhile, Tommy Lyons, who quit Dublin a few months ago, has now been elected chairman of his own club Kilmacud Crokes. Lyons was manager of the South Dublin club in the 1990s when they won the All-Ireland club title.
In Cork, County Secretary Frank Murphy has urged dual players Sean Og O hAilpin and Diarmuid O’Sullivan to consider playing both codes again next year. Murphy is disappointed at how the standard of football has fallen in the Rebel County and is encouraging O’Sullivan and O hAilpin to try and combine both codes. However, most county managers are not happy with dual players. There have been problems in Limerick and Dublin, and while players manage to combine both codes at club level, it appears that you cannot serve two masters at intercounty level.
McMANUS CAPTURES
SPORTING YEAR
A priest saying Mass in a bar in Manhattan is one of the most unusual pictures in the eight edition of “A Season of Sundays,” a pictorial record of the past year in Gaelic Games. Ray McManus, the man behind the Sportsfile team, photographed Fr. Liam Kelleher saying Mass for the women’s All-Stars team in the bar of Fitzpatrick’s Hotel on Lexington Avenue in May. There are some great pictures from the past 12 months including a brilliant one of a train driver looking into Croke Park from the window of his locomotive. The book proves the old adage that a picture tells a thousand words. But the pictures also carry some well-chosen captions from Tom Humphries of the Irish Times. If you know someone who is visiting the Emerald Isle this Christmas, ask them to get you a copy.
KERRY TURN PROFIT
How much does it cost to win an All-Ireland senior football title. Well, first you need a squad of talented players and then it could cost at least