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”
Now, when you see something like that you wonder why players even bother. The statistics are bad enough for losing provincial finalists, (Only one side (Dublin) having won through the six day turnaround system) without the referee making a complete mess of a game like that. The subsequent 13 bookings and one sending off in the game are not even worth mentioning. The bookings, tickings and warnings were more inconsistent than the projections for Anglo Irish Bank’s bailout.
Mild mannered Limerick manager Mickey Ned could not even hold his tongue after this one. When asked was he happy with the referee, the former All Ireland winner has this to say, “Every team will go from one level to the next one, if it has the foundation of hunger, courage, discipline and mutual respect. Our team has those attributes in abundance. They have enormous character. They have it off and on the field. We have not had one incident with those players in the last year. Their families can be proud of them, their clubs and their county can be proud of them too. They are the greatest bunch of players for character, respect and dignity, both on and off the field. I would like to think that the men in the middle would have the same dignity and professionalism that would do justice to the those players.”
Mickey Ned continued. “To say that I am not happy with the referee is an understatement. It’s the third consecutive year that we’ve been on the receiving end of poor refereeing. I don’t know what the solution is. We do our jobs, we produce very sporting teams, we coach them to perfection, but each time there are bad decisions made, it costs us games. I’m talking about the penalty at the start. It was a blatant penalty and by all accounts, television showed that. I don’t want it to sound like sour grapes because Cork deserved to win, and we wish them every success in the championship, but it just leaves a sour taste in the mouth. It certainly does nothing for Gaelic football in Limerick”.
Then again, the question needs to be asked. Does the GAA want counties like Limerick becoming a success? By the actions of their referees, the answer is no. Once more, Limerick are left to rot. Based on other peoples mistakes. Why even bother.