Three red cards sell supporters short

Date Published: 12-Feb-2008

IT’S HARD to know what to make of this National Hurling League opener at Pearse Stadium on Sunday. Galway cleaned out their neighbours for almost sixty minutes of a largely unremarkable encounter and should have won by close to a cricket score. They didn’t, and that scenario alone will help to keep everyone in the camp grounded. A consolation of sorts.

Far more obvious was the shocking refereeing performance of Seamus Roche. He destroyed the match with his incessant whistle tooting and also sent off three players for next to nothing — especially Galway’s central defenders, Tony Óg Regan and John Lee. The Tipperary official awarded 12 frees in the first 16 minutesand 20 scores in total came from placed balls. Free-flowing hurling was the exception rather than the rule in the circumstances.

The dismissal of three players automatically gives the game a bad name, but it would be an utterly unjustified label in relation to Sunday’s exchanges. The value of the match was immediately undermined by Roche opting for the red card — seemingly, on the advice of an umpire — when dealing with an off-the-ball incident involving Ger Mahon and Clare debutant David Barrett in the 3rd minute.

The unfortunate Banner wing forward got the line for a retaliatory pull across Mahon’s legs and while, technically, Roche was within his rights in censuring Barrett, the stroke was more instinctive than malicious or dangerous. A booking would have been more than sufficient. As a result, Clare were immediately rocked backwards and they never got to grips with their numerical disadvantage.

In fact, they……