The last three games we have been involved in controversy has been created by what most people would agree were harsh red cards. While I applaud the initiative to stamp out dangerous play the irony is there were three reckless and wild strokes( Shane O Neill, P.J Delaney and Liam Rushe) that deserved red yet only saw yellow, so much for this new policy. Instead we have Pat Horgan (a genuine effort to play the ball) Shefflin (a bit of clumsiness) O Dwyer (first yellow a slightly mistimed shoulder) all seeing red. No one can say for sure whether these incidents would have changed the outcome of the matches but if this type of refereeing is allowed to continue I fear one of the things that makes hurling a thing of beauty namely players using their instinct could be lost forever for example Pat Horgans goal was a perfect example of hand eye co-ordination yet if he was a split second late he would have hit Maguires hand and potentially seen yellow or red. If this type of reffing is allowed to continue we will have coaches telling players to pull out of 50/50 balls for fear of getting carded. For the sake of the game the refs have to leave common sense prevail namely if a player is making a genuine effort to paly the ball or tackle the man then if mistimed it is merely a free and dangerous play is punished, its not difficult to tell the difference between the two by anyone who has played. We cannot have a situation where different fouls are been treated the same, it is turning the game into a lottery and I for one do not want the All Ireland to finish with one side complaining about some referees strict adherence to the rule book without using whatever common sense he may or may not have!! Rant over!!
