Limerick play their final card in minor hurling appeal

THE controversy over the disputed point in the All-Ireland minor hurling semi-final looks set to rumble on as the Limerick County Board officials are due to lodge an appeal to the GAA’s Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) today (Thursday).

Both Galway, who won the game at Croke Park by three points after extra time, and Limerick are anxious that the dispute over Hawk-Eye will be resolved as quickly as possible as the winners are set to take on Waterford in the final on Sunday week (September 8).

Both camps were training as normal this week and Limerick GAA have pledged to go as far as possible with their legal appeal, despite the Central Appeals Committee (CAC) at Croke Park having ruled against them on Monday night.

The CAC decided that the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) was “correct” in deciding it was precluded from considering the Limerick objection to the awarding of the game Galway.

“We are going to the DRA now,” confirmed Limerick County Board PRO Eamon Phelan on Wednesday. “We have seven days to lodge an objection to the CAC finding and we are working on it today. Our appeal should be with the Croke Park authorities by tomorrow.

“The lads are back in training and the players and their families are fully behind our decision to appeal. We are willing to go all the way with this. We have young fellows here, and their parents, who are gutted by the outcome of the game.”

The controversy relates to a point by Limerick centre forward Barry Nash in the very first minute of the game on Sunday, August 18. Nash’s score was deemed to be a ‘miss’ by the new Hawk-Eye system, even though it was clear from the graphics that the sliotar had gone between the posts.

It was adjudged to be a legitimate score by the umpires on the Hill 16 end, who were over-ruled by the computerised system. In an embarrassing admission the following day, the GAA confirmed that one of the Hawk Eye settings was calibrated for football rather than hurling – the Hawk Eye technology was subsequently decommissioned for the senior game between Clare and Limerick later that afternoon. Read more in this week’s Connacht Tribune.