That was one of the stranger interviews I’ve heard on OTB.
GAA refs are all gone a bit mental since that lunatic decked the a ref at a match last year. Feargal the same unfortunately. He disappeared up his own hole live on the radio there
He did similar on Tipp Mid West Radio last week although was encouraged by the interviewer.
What he said about John Keenan was 100% correct.
Poor auld David Coldrick must feel like a right prick. Horgan should know nothing about Coldrick, it’s two totally different sports.
Listening now…
He’s bang on for a start about choice of back up ref. He’s just laying out logic. Nathan being a prick with his questioning.
He’s correct about lads at 50 getting the big games when it was claimed they want younger refs.
Bang on about Keenan.
This Nathan fella is an absolute idiot.
Seems that standards aren’t being applied and appointments of officials is pure arbitrary.
Nathan is some fanny.
I thought that was alright… Maybe when people were calling him unhinged i was expecting more but he’s clearly pissed off with a lack of standards being applied or arbitrarily being applied… A little ego thrown in but nothing OTT. Maybe you had to be there.
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Ah it was a very awkward listen.
He’s got 3 out of the last 5 finals and as many big games as anyone over the last few years. Throwing his toys out of the pram over being underused in the League campaign just gone is very silly.
In the Limerick v Cork league game this year which he done, there was an incident where his son, who was umpiring got into an argument with the Limerick goalie over sliotars and was subsequently booked by Fergal. It wasn’t a great look.
Also I’m pretty sure there were some sending off’s in the Antrim v Waterford match he did but not sure how controversial or not they were.
The bottom line is though that he was on borrowed time after an incident in an U19 County Semi Final last year in Tipp. Those things filter back to Croke Park and he can’t have many complaints after it.
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A i said, you probably had to hear it live… Listening back expecting him to be totally unhinged it was a let down.
The interviewer came across worse.
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He came across as a right establishment shill
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That seems silly; refs are constantly complaining about shortages of referees but when they try to give some new lads some experience Fergal gets narky
The one thing he’s right about is the fitness thing.
While its obviously important, the ability to make a decision is more important, and a one-off beep test doesn’t seem to be a great assessment of a referee’s overall ability.
You don’t think fitness and decision making could be related?
I dont know. The fitness tests are not sprung on the refs. The dates are give months in advance. Barring injury refs should be able to pass them comfortably enough.
I think you could be very fit and be a terrible ref.
There obviously has to be some standards kept but a beep test is very 1990’s stuff. Coldrick is as good a ref as there is in Football so for 15 years of good work to be overridden by a beep test seems harsh.
17.4 in a beep test isn’t simple.
I think Fergie has some valid points but probably didn’t communicate them that well. Get him back on with a whistle in tow and he’ll be better.
Unsurprisingly given his location
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Horgan is a raving lunatic but I thought he had some valid points. Nathan Murphy is an idiot
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What was the u19 incident?
Game involving his own Club/sons.
Fergal didnt behave very well on the sideline. I think he got some sort of ban (maybe 3 months) but it didnt really mean anything as it ran from maybe November to January.
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