Referee to Wear Kerry Jersey in Replay

7th Jul 2015

Strong rumours coming from GAA headquarters in Croke Park suggest that the referee for the Cork V Kerry replay in Killarney on July 18^th will wear a Kerry jersey. Having given up the pretence that referees, linesmen and umpires are supposed to be neutral in matches involving Cork the association is said to be on the verge of admitting that there will be an official anti-Cork bias for the rest of the football championship.

“Yerra lookit, to be fair now we have to give Kerry every poshible chance of batin’ Cork the neckscht day”, said an Croke Park representative, “so we’ll appoint a proper referee who won’t hesitate to book Cork fellas and give Kerrah a few more penalteees”.
 

Sheildsy with two lads from the Kerry team before Sunday's drawn game

---

We’ve barely picked our Rebel jaws up off the floor after the blatant anti-Cork bias shown against our footballers in Killarney last Sunday. In case you were on the International Space Station or in an ATM queue in Athens let us remind you what happened.

Cork were running riot against Kerry in Fitzgerald Stadium and it looked like curtains for the Kingdom before a Kerry lad threw himself on the ground when Cork’s Mark Collins caught a ball with two hands in front of him. The referee awarded Kerry a penalty allowing them to break the Rebels momentum and eventually pull off a draw.

Paul Kerrigan was black carded for a pull down in the first half yet similar incidents later on in the game involving Kieran Donnaghy treating Cork players’ necks like monkey bars resulted in no such sanction.

There are a litany of highly controversial incidents over the years that point to a certain determination in the GAA to ensure Kerry are always victorious over Cork.

In 2008 Kerry’s Aiden O’Mahony was widely condemned for his cringing “collapse” after Donnacha O’Connor tapped him in the face after a brief altercation on the side line in Croke Park during the All-Ireland semi-final. The Corkman received a straight red card with more than twenty minutes remaining with the game still in the melting pot.
 

Man of the Match: Alan O'Connor was so calm he slipped out a sneaky fart as he ran on to the pitch in Killarney. What a hero.

Having bluffed the referee into reducing Cork to 14 men when Kerry, who had been four points up at the time but were beginning to look feeble, still managed to pull off a draw. The incident is available in all its shame to see on Youtube and is entitled “Cheating in Gaelic Football”. Kerry went on to win the replay.  

In the 2009 All-Ireland final Tadhg Kennelly deliberately and very cowardly smashed into Nicolas Murphy’s back just after the throw-in flooring the gallant Cork midfielder and almost knocking him out.

A few years later Kennelly brazenly admitted in his auto-biography that he had plotted days earlier to hurt the Carrigaline man as the game started. The Kerry man should have got a straight red card but outrageously he stayed on the field and Kerry stole Sam Maguire.

The most recent and blatant of the GAA’s blows to Cork however was in the 2013 All-Ireland hurling final against Clare when the referee played way over the two minutes of added time to allow the Banner to pull off a draw. Clare went on to win the replay bringing wide smiles to Croke Park officials’ faces.

In signs that GAA headquarters is taking lessons from Putin’s Russia in an effort to quell the Rebel tide, major concerns have been raised on Leeside with the news that the Munster final replay will not be shown on TV. Apparently, Sky will be showing some Sure-God-Help-Us football qualifier at the same time and RTE cannot show another match simultaneously.

Aside from the horrible over-commercialisation of Gaelic games, you do know what’s really going on here don’t you?  

GAA Officials in Croke Park have played this one cuter than any bellyaching Kerry man could have - when the match officials have to award the Kingdom another controversial decision to keep them in the match on July 18^th it will not be beamed into homes and pubs around the Rebel county and beyond.

As a result the outrage on social media and on the PROC will not be as instant and ferocious as it was last Sunday afternoon and it’ll be much easier for them to weather the storm.

It’s a shame as both Cork hurlers and footballers restored some much needed pride in the jersey last weekend with excellent performances in Wexford and Killarney. After the disappointing dual league final defeats and a below par outing against Waterford last month us Cork fans needed a lift and thankfully we got it. Every supporter can now see that when the mindsets are right our teams are a match for any county.

One swallow doesn’t make a summer though and both hurlers and footballers will need to go to the well again to reassure supporters that they really are as good as their last outings.

We need to teach Davy Fitz and the Clare hurlers on Saturday night in Thurles that they are not the world-beaters that they thought they were after 2013 and the Kingdom and GAA officials need to be shown that Cork football is dogged in its determination to overturn twenty years of no wins in Killarney.