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Did you read the article I posted? It successfully, and correctly, overruled 2 calls in the Galway-Dublin Leinster hurling final. Then it made a cockup in the Limerick Minor Game.

So the facility exists to overrule incorrect calls, whether asked for or not, and that facility has been used at least 3 times that I am aware of.

My point is that there is no 'need' to harangue refs or umpires to 'go to hawkeye'. It will happen automatically whether the ref calls it or not.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/limerick-demand-minor-replay-after-hawkeye-scoring-blunder-29511874.html

The Irish Independent understands that Limerick County Board sought clarification particularly on whether the match referee or the Hawk-Eye supervisor called for the score to be reviewed and the answer strengthened their belief that they have a good case for a replay.

That above paragraph suggests to me there is some kind of loophole to be exploited depending on who makes the decision to go to Hawk-Eye and I'm wondering if the GAA have made a conscious decision to avoid using the facility since the Limerick game? Has there been any more recent examples of Hawk-Eye over-ruling the umpires (Galway/Dublin I think was prior to the Limerick incident). If there is, then fair enough,  no further argument from me.

I've a feeling this one is going all the way to the DRA via CAC and CHC, etc. Limerick went the whole way with it unsuccessfully. Maybe Meath will have more joy.

I wonder if Hawk-Eye has over-ruled any decisions since that Limerick minors incident a couple of years ago? I'm not arguing with what you're saying AZOffaly but I find it surprising that there aren't more examples of Hawk-Eye correcting the officials. At least none that stick out for me - you would think it would happen slightly more frequently.

Secondly now that the Limerick incident has been brought up, technically Limerick "won" that game (or "won" it in the same sense that Meath and Antrim "drew") yet Limerick never progressed to the final or even sought a replay. I think everyone put it down to the incident happening in the first minute so it's a bit of quandary really - because this happened in the 63rd minute, the game should be replayed? The inconsistency in decision making sometimes is hilarious. 

The GAA is such a hopelessly administered organisation at times. It's obvious to anyone and everyone that Meath/Louth and Wexford are in the wrong sides of the draw. Either Leinster Council made a mess of the fixtures or the GAA made of mess of placing teams in the A/B sections but someone has made a mess somewhere along the line. Is any actually held accountable for something like this?

Do I think Meath are right? As a Meath supporter, I think Meath would be completely out of their depth even competing with the likes of Westmeath, Kerry, Offaly, etc next year. That's my opinion anyway. A not altogether impossible compromise of Antrim going up and Meath keeping the cup and the title as champions but remaining in the CR Cup for another year would probably serve both counties interests best in the medium to long term.

What irritates me most is how these Fr. Ted moments continue to exist in the GAA with little or no corrective action.

For example, will they program Hawk-Eye to maintain the score from now on? Doubtful.
Will such an important committee like the CCCC offer some kind of 24/7 service going forward? Doubtful. In fact why not ask them to meet up every Saturday and Sunday evening to address moments like this as soon as they happen?
Why not publish the hawk-eye images of all scores on the GAA's website? I mean what harm could that do. I wonder in tennis if there's free access to all hawk-eye images?

Yes, it's obvious that they are desperate to avoid a replay, but I guarantee you some of their mentors knew the scoreline full well on Saturday. And if they don't, then a cursory viewing of the game would clarify it.

The phantom point, for reasons I outline above, is an irrelevance.

That said, I feel terribly sorry for their players. It was obviously a very big deal for them.

I also think Meath were brazen in going ahead with receptions in Trim and the like, even the next evening, when it was obvious what had happened, and what was likely to be the outcome. They tried to dare the GAA to call a replay, and the GAA have called their bluff.

My last post talks a bit about your first two points. When Meath enquired, they were told the scoreline was correct. Any examples when hawk-eye has intervened on a decision? I don't recall any. If the system is so great, why cannot be programmed with a basic function like maintain the score?

Finally your last paragraph is ridiculous. Are you suggesting that Meath should have put their celebrations on hold so the CCCC can enjoy the long weekend? The brazenness of Croke Park officialdom is the only example of such in this whole sorry scenario.

In fairness to Meath, we did enquire about the score around the 62nd/63rd minute and when the linesman radioed into the ref, he told them the scoreboard was correct. Meath played the game on the scoreboard's terms from then on, i.e. went for goals when they needed them, ran down time when they thought they were a point up. At least that's what was reported.

Also Hawk-eye is supposed to check everything? Has it ever actually happened where a shot was incorrectly called and Hawk-eye intervened? I don't ever recall such a scenario which makes me slightly dubious of the claims below. The other point to make here is why the hell the system can't maintain the score automatically? Surely that should be a basic requirement?

This is a ridiculous situation and I wonder if the same set of circumstances would have been allowed play out in an All-Ireland Final. It was made worse by the president preempting the outcome of the CCCC's decision and said CCCC not convening until 3 days after the game.

Finally I don't like the black and white view that it was a draw, therefore it must be replayed. Both teams played the game on the merits of the scoreboard in the last ten minutes. Meath won and in those initial few minutes after the game, Antrim had no complaints.

I thought it was a poor game. Meath dealt with the wind the better of the two teams both in terms of profiting from it in the second half and limiting Armagh's dominance in the first. Still though if you take out the frees Armagh actually won the game (Meath won the second half 0-6 to 0-0 with 5 points from frees) and I agree the ref seemed to favour Meath. From a Meath perspective, Donal Keogan was easily the man of the match. Mickey Burke, Padraic Harnan and Harry Rooney had a positive influence too. There seemed to be an edge to Meath in fairness, which is worth pointing out. They weren't going to be bullied at least today. I think Armagh have to improve on that today to stay up. Meath might get away with a similar level performance against Fermanagh but they'll definitely need to improve to be promoted.

It's worrying that all the attackers have clearly not being accounted for at least going by the information that's available in the media.

My thoughts are with those caught up in this atrocity. Call it naive but I'd have thought France's intelligence system would be able to prevent something like this. I mean this isn't a Boston marathon situation with two brothers turned up with a homemade bomb. These guys had serious artillery at their disposal and sounds like they were trained to use it to cause maximum carnage. It targeted specific weak spots at arguably a weak time. It will surely have taken a fair degree of training, planning, communication, access to weapons, etc. When the investigation begins, these guys will have left a trail of evidence behind them. I wonder if they were already under surveillance. Hopefully lessons can be learned.

I think if divisional winners win, they choose the captain. Declan O'Sullivan and Darren O'Sullivan came from divisional sides?

The county championship is the more prestigious. I was listening to Barry O'Shea the former Kerry football on Newstalk last night and he summarized it all. If you actually go to the Kerry GAA website, the club championship is run off very quickly, finalists were known back in May. There are only 11 senior clubs in Kerry which would seem quite small for a county of it's tradition. Compared with Dublin who have 32. Format obviously suits in some regards though as it hasn't done the county team any harm.

Others might know more but basically there are your standard senior, intermediate and junior club championships played off in their various formats. Then you have a county championship comprising the senior clubs and divisional teams made up of intermediate and junior clubs. County champions represent Kerry in Munster unless the county champion is a divisional team in which case, it's the senior club champions (used to be best placed team in county championship). Not sure if it works that well despite the whole divisional thing getting praise for giving players from weaker clubs a chance to play senior football. I think Cork's approach to divisional sides is much better with much less confusion.

Is there anywhere to re-watch the game in full? I'd be very curious to see what led to Eamonn Wallace going off.

Not going to dispute the red card or the fact that justice was served but what exactly is within the referee's remit in that situation? He missed the incident at the time as did all the officials and in fact they allowed play continue on for a period after it.

Clearly it was brought to the official's attention at the break and they have the benefit of TV replays but then you're in the territory of reviewing every incident in the whole half. Did they? Clearly not.

I know players like Martin Penrose and Brendan Bugler have been sent off for incidents after the half-time whistle had been blown but as far as I can recall this is a whole new precedent.

The Sunday Game ensures there's a talking point every week. So far sledging, Brolly's remark about Marty Morrissey and this week O'Rourke calling for a change in structure. There's always something the following week to keep everyone talking.

Also completely agree with fearglasmor, I have actually made that exact same point as you before. Provincial championships just determine what stage you enter the All-Ireland race. The GAA should try and market this structure a bit better.

The qualifiers are now an opportunity for Longford to show progress where they will be coming up against teams of similar ability to themselves.  I think this format is as good as any B championship. The advantage of the qualifiers is that the further you progress, the standard gets better giving lesser counties a chance to test themselves against teams increasing in quality.