Cork need to change keeper badly. Thatcouldn’t have been much worse yesterday.
1 Like
A fair portion of these round robins are turning into turkey shoots. There was loads of them in 18 and 19.
Not sure who’s served by tipp being in the Munster championship after that humiliation yesterday. I don’t think one tipp player would make the Limerick side.
Tipp had to face Limerick with a game under their belt away and now face Waterford who had a weeks break. It’s a simply silly system. Just cramming these games in for the sake of it.
I do think cork could cause an issue or two for Limerick. I’d be confident there management are useless but they do have some good players. Still Limerick could send down a B team and still make the Munster final by taking care of Waterford.
Looks like it’ll be between Clare and Limerick to save the hurling summer again. I still think Clare have significant weaknesses at 3 and in goals. Cork walked through them in the first half as well.
The sub keeper is not better. The lad in goals for u20s is excellent
1 Like
Brian Gavin: James Owens was overfussy but O’Donoghue and Cork have themselves to blame
Owens is coming in for criticism, a lot of it unfair.
Referee James Owens is spoken to by Cork’s Declan Dalton at the end of the game. Pic: ©INPHO/Ken Sutton
SUN, 28 APR, 2024 - 20:29
BRIAN GAVIN
Fourteen yellow cards and one red is a massive tally in any hurling game.
It’s a total more in line with an early league fixture when players aren’t fully fit, conditions are poor and a referee is trying to apply the rulebook as much as possible because that is how he is going to progress.
But it was a shock to see that figure in Cork. Was it justified? You can’t say it was. There was plenty of niggle alright and a few rows broke out towards the end, which needed to be sorted by James Owens, but 14 was on the excessive side.
Some Cork supporters will condemn his decision to send off Seán O’Donoghue and pinpoint that as the turning point of the game. It might have been but the Cork captain could have no complaints. His second yellow was a deliberate body collision on Shane O’Donnell, a black card offence if it was in Gaelic football. A foul that was completely unnecessary and it cost Cork.
Look at the other end of the field where Clare defenders were picking up yellow cards, some they might have felt necessary, but crucially not repeating those fouls and putting their team at risk. When they analyse the game in the cold light of day, Cork have to look at themselves, not Owens.
However, Owens is coming in for criticism, a lot of it unfair, and he didn’t go out with the intention to make the game all about himself. But I do feel he has some of the confidence that has made him one of the leading referees in the country.
I’ve mentioned how in the last couple of years morale has been low among the national hurling panel. Some have reacted well to it but I’m not sure about James. It feels like he is lacking confidence and when that happens you can get too fussy, which is what he was accused of in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Learn more
I’ve mentioned before how much pressure there is on referees in these home-away situations and with over 36,000 in the Páirc there was plenty of it in this game, which might as well have been knock-out.
From my time, there would be occasions when you would read in the newspapers for a day or two after a game that a free you gave was the difference. Those things you have to deal with and I hope James can because he is an asset.
I hope too that the GAA are working with referees when they are lacking belief in themselves. It’s important that they know they are not alone in such situations and while they might feel the brunt of it on social media, in the inner sanctum of the referees administration somebody has their backs.
Compared to Owens, Liam Gordon had an easy time of it in Limerick thanks to how easy the All-Ireland champions had it against Tipperary. Gordon had a tricky Munster final last year and didn’t get another game for the remainder of the championship but he is a referee whose belief is increasing with the volume of games he is appointed to.
In the Galway-Kilkenny game in Salthill, Thomas Walsh blew for about 10 to 12 frees in the first half. His style of refereeing is one I really like and he looked stress-free. However, he could have done with a slow whistle when TJ Reid was running onto a possession. If the play had developed it would have surely made for a Kilkenny goal.
A week after he refereed in Ennis, it was strange to see Colm Lyons taking charge of the Antrim-Wexford game in Belfast on Saturday afternoon. That’s a four-hour plus drive from Cork but he didn’t show much signs of fatigue. In fact, he was sharper than he was in Cusack Park.
The square ball rule raised its head again and once more he spoke to his umpires. One of them was keen to give the goal but the right decision was made.
Lyons was also on the money with awarding Wexford a penalty. It was a talking point and you could understand why Antrim were aggrieved but when you boil it down there was justification.
Towards the end, Darren Gleeson was booked for remonstrating but Lyons’ handling of the game never wavered and it’s a reasonably good start he has made to the championship.
In Tullamore on Saturday, new referee Brian Keon sent off Offaly captain Jason Sampson just 30 seconds into their Joe McDonagh Cup game. On first sighting, there didn’t appear to be much in it but Sampson gave Keon enough reason to dismiss him. He later showed Westmeath’s Darragh Egerton a red card for loose use of the hurl and he could have no complaints.
Offaly ended up winning the game just as Armagh did in their Ulster SFC semi-final but they have reason to feel hard done by with Liam Devenney’s managing of the game on a number of occasions. Before Down scored their second goal, Armagh should have been awarded a free out.
Cork like.
That chap proclaimed in the paper there a few weeks ago that Cork have two starters for each position and the best players in the country.
It’s great to see lads being so honest but if that’s where his head is at Cork will get the 25 years out of it.
A ridiculous body check.
3 Likes
Gavin displaying zero loyalty to his refereeing colleagues here and taking the soup with gusto.
Would seem he doesn’t like Owens also.
6 Likes
a right cunt I’d say
3 Likes
I said the same on reading it, comes across as an utter bollox
Errr…remember wanker Diarmuid Byrnes getting David Reidy sent off in Ennis a few years back? Embarrassing in the extreme…Limericks shouldn’t throw stones…the cynical cunts…
He defends his buddies and slates referees he has a gripe with
1 Like
You’d say?
Is gearoid showing him how to do it?
Because really the most obvious diving and simulation so far has come from Limerick, and deep down the limericks here know it.
Y’know what
It actually might have been a copy, paste and edit
The Limerick tweet:
‘All at Limerick GAA would like to wish Peter Casey a speedy recovery, looking forward to seeing Peter back on the field of play as soon as possible‘
Looks pretty similar starting from the ‘All at Tipperary GAA’ haha
The Cork crowded were utterly fuming with him yesterday, but I think he was fully justified on the second yellow - he had the perfect view of it and it was braindead by O’Donoghue.
Could he have stopped play while TOM was down? Probably but he was consistent on this all day and allowed play to continue before this when players were receiving treatment.
I thought Owens did a bit of scoreboard refereeing in the last 10 or so, Cork got some very soft frees while while David Reidy was fouled multiple times in the lead up to Shan’s disallowed goal.
I would yeah. What’s your problem macnas head?
I see your legendary sense of humour is still alive and kicking.
I really don’t give a fuck what you think
Well well well.
Why don’t you go back to crawling the board messaging folk like a middle manager on LinkedIn?
why don’t you go shit in your hat?
1 Like