Limerick Post Sports Blog all the sports not fit to print

Why bother, when the odds are against you?

AFTER five minutes of last weekend’s All Ireland Round four football qualifier between Cork and Limerick, all of the 10,036 in attendance, knew one thing. Cork were going to win.
Limerick’s talisman John Galvin was felled inside the small rectangle by his Cork marker. The Croom midfielder was tackled in a way that would be more suited to the international series in October, (The next big game in the Gaelic Grounds, thanks to the GAA). Referee Padraig Hughes (pictured) from Armagh blew his whistle. The home crowd jumped with joy. The Cork defender, Aidan Walsh, hung his head in hands. It was a penalty, if ever a penalty was seen.

The whistle, to the amazement of the crowd, the entire assembled media, the fans at home watching on TV, the Cork bench, the Limerick bench, the dogs on the street and the 30 players on the pitch, was for a free out. When John Galvin asked the referee, “How was that a free out?”, the referee replied, “You dived”