Canning gives red card to the clampdown on tough tackling

Date Published: {J}

STEPHEN GLENNON

LONG serving Galway defender, Ollie Canning says he is disappointed by the number of yellow and red cards being dished out by referees in this year’s championship – believing the physical element is “slowly and surely being squeezed out of the game of hurling.”

Speaking ahead of Galway’s historic Leinster final showdown with Kilkenny this Sunday, the experienced Canning – who has given well over a decade of service to his county’s cause – has noted a discernible change in the manner in which games are being handled this year, with referees, it would appear, under pressure to produce the cards.

“I am disappointed myself with the way the games are being refereed at the moment,” says Canning. “You can’t be pointing at the referees on this either or complaining too much about it. Their hands are tied to a degree. That said, a lot of the yellow cards that are being given out, there is no real intention to do an injury to another player or do any major damage. Players are just going hard at it.

“I don’t see from two or three years ago how things have changed so much. So, it is an aspect of the game I am not that happy with myself. I just feel the physicality is being slowly and surely being squeezed out of the game of hurling and I don’t think it is the right way to go with it.”

In many respects, it is somewhat ironic that Galway – a team often criticised for its lack of physicality in recent years – should be a side now suffering from this new direction, having Andy Smith sent off in their opening game against Wexford and young midfielder David Burke dismissed in last weekend’s Leinster semi-final replay against Offaly.

Indeed, having finally added some physicality to their game, it would now appear they are being harshly punished for doing so. “Yeah, but I mean it is the same for other teams,” says the Portumna man.

“Wexford had a guy sent off against us as well, two guys actually. One of those was Diarmuid Lyng, who is a very decent guy and a nice fellow and his record speaks for itself as regards his discipline. David Burke, a nice young lad, was sent off against Offaly. I can tell you, all he wants to do is go out and hurl.

“It just seems players are picking up yellow cards and red cards for innocuous challenges. I haven’t seen anything in a lot of those challenges to suggest that a player is out to do another player an injury. I just feel myself, some of the players who are more physical in their approach, they might have to hold back slightly. Because if you get booked early in a game, then you are looking over your shoulder all the time and you are being extra careful, which maybe is distracting you or taking away from your game as well.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.