2012 county hurling championships

[Milltown Row2]

Was a tense game, the weather and conditions and state of the pitch wouldn't have allowed for a open fluent game but it had plenty fight and battles.

Both teams were evenly matched and up on till the sending off I thought that K-K were going to win, the decision itself was a major talking point, was a foul was a booking and a card no doubt about that but a straight red don't think it warrented that.

The second was a second bookable offence so he had to go.

K-K were over reliant on the number 10 to get scores and didn't do enough from open play to win the game, that said they had a lot of possession

[orangeman]

All-Ireland club hurling final referee John Sexton is understood to have come under fire as he made his way off the field in yesterday's match.

Sexton, who sent off two Kilcormac-Killoughey players, was confronted by a supporter who came down to the tunnel area wielding a flag as the officials made their way off.

[orangeman]

KK perspective -

Owens: Red cards harsh

Monday, March 18, 2013

By Diarmuid O'Flynn

Not one harsh sending-off but two, that was the response of Kilcormac-Killoughey manager Danny Owens to the red cards his midfielders, Killian Leonard and Damien Kilmartin, received in yesterday's AIB All-Ireland Club SHC final.
"We lost two men and I don't know what kind of rules he was working off," Owens said.

"The first yellow card for Damien Kilmartin was unbelievably hard. The second one was fair enough. I thought that the sending-off [Leonard's] was amazing. It was a harsh red card. You are here on All-Ireland final days and something like that, there wouldn't even be a second thought about it.

"The same rules should apply everywhere. But I'm not going to take anything away from St Thomas's and I don't want to whinge too much about the referee either. Fair play to them, they're worthy champions."

Though he was quite exercised at the time, St Thomas's manager John Burke also felt the straight red for Leonard was harsh.

"It was a bad day and you could see it coming. The two players, he was sliding into him [Darragh Burke] and he just got the slap. He caught him, but it was hard luck. It was a bad day and he couldn't stop. There was nothing vicious about it.

"It was right in front of me and I heard the slap, but I knew it wasn't the edge of the hurl and it didn't to any harm. I was annoyed about it, but it was probably a bit harsh really. It sounded worse than it was."

Without question those decisions hurt the Offaly champions but in truth, and as so sportingly acknowledged by Owens, there could really be no quibbling with the final result as the Galwegians were clearly the better side on the day.

As on so many other occasions with club champions it was also a family affair, six Burke brothers on the field at the end along with a couple of cousins, patriarch John the manager, who never doubted his club would one day win an All-Ireland.

"Not to boast, but, yes, we did. We have a special bunch of lads, they're very close and they're very good hurlers.

"We said if we could just get the right ingredients together we could do it. We were probably lucky that we got one good ingredient and that was Dinny Cahill [renowned Tipperary hurling guru]. He was a big, big help to us, got that little bit extra out of them."

For Danny Owens, beaten but unbowed, there was huge pride in his Kilcormac-Killoughey side.

"It was a great effort and we are very proud of the lads, put in a massive shift. We can't fault anyone. There isn't enough I can say about the lads generally.

"I don't want to put too much of a dampener on it, we are county champions for the first time, worthy Leinster champions and beat good teams along the way. I am very proud of the lads, it just did not happen on the day and we just have to take our hats off to St Thomas's."

[Bord na Mona man]

Was a tense game, the weather and conditions and state of the pitch wouldn't have allowed for a open fluent game but it had plenty fight and battles.

Both teams were evenly matched and up on till the sending off I thought that K-K were going to win, the decision itself was a major talking point, was a foul was a booking and a card no doubt about that but a straight red don't think it warrented that.

The second was a second bookable offence so he had to go.

K-K were over reliant on the number 10 to get scores and didn't do enough from open play to win the game, that said they had a lot of possession

The first sending off was an extremely harsh decision (although technically correct) in a game that looked destined to be a draw up until then.
St Thomas' were the better side at creating scoring chances in open play. The supply of ball and movement off it was that bit better. They moved it at better angles and made space for themslves. K-K tended to dump it high down the middle and hoped that their men could win the 50-50s and then other players feed off it.

However in mitigation, the reason almost all of K-K's scores came from placed balls was that St Thomas' tended to quickly foul when K-K managed to win a ball in the forwards. So while the Galway men might have been that little bit knackier with their hurling, they certainly weren't making it tell on the scoreboard while it was 15 v 15.

[Bord na Mona man]

All-Ireland club hurling final referee John Sexton is understood to have come under fire as he made his way off the field in yesterday's match.

Sexton, who sent off two Kilcormac-Killoughey players, was confronted by a supporter who came down to the tunnel area wielding a flag as the officials made their way off.

I was watching out for anything as Sexton was leaving the field. He wasn't helped by a replay of the first sending off being mistakenly shown on the big screen a couple of minutes after it happened. This was after the red card had been issued and medical treatment given to the player.
Once it became clear from the replay that the contact was minimal and there was an element of playacting, the K-K crowd were clearly enraged.
I did see someone standing at the railing over the tunnel waving a flag and flapping it down in the direction of Sexton as he walked under. Whether this is the person in the 'tunnel area' according to reports, I can't be sure.

[Jeepers Creepers]

In fairness to the ref the first red card did look awful real time then I saw the reply. It looked like a completely different incident !?! The second one can't be argued.

[Lone Shark]

In fairness to the ref the first red card did looked awful until I saw the reply. Then it looked like a completely different incident !?! The second one can't be argued.

For me the first red card was contentious and harsh, but the second was ridiculous. Kilmartin's red was made up of two yellows, and undoubtedly the second yellow was for a bookable offence - however the first card he received in the game was for an accidental contact which most people around me (Brigids folk mainly) agreed wasn't even a foul. Kilmartin should only have received his first yellow for the offence that led to him being sent off. I'd find that very easy to argue!

[Jeepers Creepers]

You are right about the first card but knowing he was on yellow I thought he could have stood his ground better than throw the shoulder in.