All Ireland Club Championships - Final Stages

[zoyler]

Some times in the early stages of matches players are pent up and do things they would not do 5minutes later.  A sensible ref like McEnaney would have booked the player and told him to calm down and warn him that he was on a knife edge.  But then Mr Duffy has never been a sensible ref.  He always has to be the centre of attention - it always has to be about him - he has caused all sorts of trouble at games in the west yet somehow seems to have risen to the top of the pile. Its not the first time he has needed an escort but having said that nothing excuses the behaviour of some of the supporters and  players.  Whens the last time a county had two teams in croke Park on Paddies Day?

[Maiden1]

The Portlaoise player was a lot taller than the Kilmurry-Ibrickane player that he caught with his arm in the first minute.  The match had just started about 30 seconds and it was a freezing cold day and he miss timed the tackle.  The ref should have taken all this into account.  It was a clumsy tackle but it was only ever a yellow card.  The second sending off was harsh as well.  Who knows how the 2 sendings off affected the match, Kilmurry-Ibrickane played very well with the extra men.  It's hard to get to an AI semi final so I can understand to some degree the Portlaoise players frustration with some of the decisions.  Not sure slabbering to the ref helped there cause though.

[theskull1]

Intentional or not, it was a clear sending off offence.  A tackle like that could easily break someones neck

It was a sending off IMO
but
Has anyone ever heard of anyone getting their neck broke from that type of challange? You hear these lines repeated ad nauseam but I just don't see the evidence

[mckieran]

My immediate reaction was that it was a sendinf off. Still think it was a correct decision.

2nd sending off was a bit harsh but that midfielder was doing a of fouling at the time.

[brokencrossbar1]

Some times in the early stages of matches players are pent up and do things they would not do 5minutes later.  A sensible ref like McEnaney would have booked the player and told him to calm down and warn him that he was on a knife edge.  But then Mr Duffy has never been a sensible ref.  He always has to be the centre of attention - it always has to be about him - he has caused all sorts of trouble at games in the west yet somehow seems to have risen to the top of the pile. Its not the first time he has needed an escort but having said that nothing excuses the behaviour of some of the supporters and  players.  Whens the last time a county had two teams in croke Park on Paddies Day?

It is still a sending off and given the controversey over Kenneally taking Murphy out of it from the throw ion last year I am sure refs feel under pressure to ensure something like that doesn't happen again.  I also think that McEananey would have been close enough to calling ti a red and by the letter of the law the ref was right in his actions.

2006 was the last time there were 2 teams from the same county in CP on Patrick's day, Portumna and Salthill Galacticos won the double for Galway clubs that day.

[Man Marker]

Seriously how can argue that the PL player who made the neck high tackle in the first minute is not a sending off is beyond me. A stone wall case. As for the the midfielder who get the second yellow, he made a tackle about 5 minutes before that and I was saying to myself why are you not being more disciplined in your tackle, you are on a yellow. I was not surprised to see him get the second yellow, he never shut his mouth, it was obvious that the entire discipline of the team had gone and it was just a matter of time. I thought the PL number 6 played with great honour throughout the entire game!
PL's manager needs to hold his hands up and take responsibility also, he set a tone at half time that was evident in PL's discipline for the entire second half. Manys a game has been won with 14 players

[mackers]

Some times in the early stages of matches players are pent up and do things they would not do 5minutes later.  A sensible ref like McEnaney would have booked the player and told him to calm down and warn him that he was on a knife edge.  But then Mr Duffy has never been a sensible ref.  He always has to be the centre of attention - it always has to be about him - he has caused all sorts of trouble at games in the west yet somehow seems to have risen to the top of the pile. Its not the first time he has needed an escort but having said that nothing excuses the behaviour of some of the supporters and  players.  Whens the last time a county had two teams in croke Park on Paddies Day?

It is still a sending off and given the controversey over Kenneally taking Murphy out of it from the throw ion last year I am sure refs feel under pressure to ensure something like that doesn't happen again.  I also think that McEananey would have been close enough to calling ti a red and by the letter of the law the ref was right in his actions.

2006 was the last time there were 2 teams from the same county in CP on Patrick's day, Portumna and Salthill Galacticos won the double for Galway clubs that day.

You just beat me to it, it was a sending off and it doesn't matter when it happens. Although you haven't mentioned it now I remember a few comments you made along with a few other Rangers men I know about Portlaoise after they beat the Cross a few years back.  Portlaoise do seem to be a rabble and if a club manager of mine abused a ref going off at HT instead of getting into the dressing room and trying to get things sorted I wouldn't be a happy bunny. IF St Galls win that would be the Antrim champions playing the Clare champions in Croker on St Patrick's Day...........not too many would have predicted that one.

[AZOffaly]

Portlaoise were a bit of a disgrace yesterday. I actually didn't think the referee got much wrong. Also with regard to the handpass rule, I think he just blew lads for throwing, which would have been a free even before the NFL rules came in.

the first sending off was a sending off. That sort of tackle is dangerous. I don't know about breaking the neck, but there's obviously risk of a head injury or concussion if you bang into the ground on your head after a tackle like that.

McCormack will be lucky if he isn't hauled up for sticking his finger into the ref's chest, as will the keeper for hitting the umpire's arm. Both of them were worse offences than Galvin's slap of the notebook.

I thought the manager of Portlaoise was absolutely silly to get involved with the ref at half time. How is he supposed to get control of a dressing room to calm them down and plan a comeback if he's out shouting and roaring at the ref on the way into the dressing room. His petulant attitude seemed to be reflected in the actions of his captain and goalkeeper in the second half.

Portlaoise looked like a team that completely lost the run of themselves, and allowed the crowd's behaviour to influence themselves. The crowd, manager and players all let themselves down.

[AFS]

Intentional or not, it was a clear sending off offence.  A tackle like that could easily break someones neck

It was a sending off IMO
but
Has anyone ever heard of anyone getting their neck broke from that type of challange? You hear these lines repeated ad nauseam but I just don't see the evidence

Yeah this grinds my gears too. Evidently, these types of challenges have an extremely remote chance of breaking someones neck.

[AZOffaly]

How is that obvious? If you clotheline a lad, when his momentum is all going forward, and you throw him to the ground on his head/neck, I can see how that would put pressure on the neck/upper vertebrae. It may not have happened yet, but it has to be a risk.

[AFS]

How is that obvious? If you clotheline a lad, when his momentum is all going forward, and you throw him to the ground on his head/neck, I can see how that would put pressure on the neck/upper vertebrae. It may not have happened yet, but it has to be a risk.

How many broken necks are there per clothesline in Gaelic football? I'd guess it's a fairly minuscule ratio. Luckily our necks are a lot more robust than we some seem to think. 'Could've easily broken...' is one of those hyperbolic clichés we hear all the time. That's not to say there's no risk of any injury, just that it's a fairly gross exaggeration of the real risks.

[brokencrossbar1]

Some times in the early stages of matches players are pent up and do things they would not do 5minutes later.  A sensible ref like McEnaney would have booked the player and told him to calm down and warn him that he was on a knife edge.  But then Mr Duffy has never been a sensible ref.  He always has to be the centre of attention - it always has to be about him - he has caused all sorts of trouble at games in the west yet somehow seems to have risen to the top of the pile. Its not the first time he has needed an escort but having said that nothing excuses the behaviour of some of the supporters and  players.  Whens the last time a county had two teams in croke Park on Paddies Day?

It is still a sending off and given the controversey over Kenneally taking Murphy out of it from the throw ion last year I am sure refs feel under pressure to ensure something like that doesn't happen again.  I also think that McEananey would have been close enough to calling ti a red and by the letter of the law the ref was right in his actions.

2006 was the last time there were 2 teams from the same county in CP on Patrick's day, Portumna and Salthill Galacticos won the double for Galway clubs that day.

You just beat me to it, it was a sending off and it doesn't matter when it happens. Although you haven't mentioned it now I remember a few comments you made along with a few other Rangers men I know about Portlaoise after they beat the Cross a few years back.  Portlaoise do seem to be a rabble and if a club manager of mine abused a ref going off at HT instead of getting into the dressing room and trying to get things sorted I wouldn't be a happy bunny. IF St Galls win that would be the Antrim champions playing the Clare champions in Croker on St Patrick's Day...........not too many would have predicted that one.

2005 is a bit of a bad memory for me and I won't bring that up to reflect on yesterday.  To be honest I don't need to add anything to show that the PL behaviour was out of line, there was enough evidence yesterday.  The manager was very silly because at a time when a cool head was needed he inflamed an already volatile situation by having a go at the ref.  They had plenty of time to adjust to make up for the fact that they had lost a man and if they had played the thing right they might have been able to redeem things.  As history shows out if a team stays calm and does not get involved with the ref there is a strong likelihood that a ref will be more sympathetic to them.  They didn't stay calm and this lack of discipline was their undoing moreso than the play on the field.

As for the tackle itself, no one has broken their neck from one that we know of but the whiplash effect and the impact effect on the head when someone hits the ground is pretty damn serious.  I've spent the night in hospital with concussion from being on the receiving end of a tackle like this so it is not nice.

[haranguerer]

Think it could have went either way, thought would be given yellow because of the time, but not surprised with red.

Thing about those tackles is they look a lot worse than the intent. If a player goes to try to knock the ball from another and doesnt manage to, his arm is lifted a bit towards the upper chest. if he makes strong enough contact it bends the player in possession back so the arm follows on up and gets caught round the neck.

They look awful, but there is no intent, and usually little enough damage from what appear to be vicous high tackles, because the whole initial impact has been absorbed by the chest.

[Winnie Peg]

Have you any comments to make about the terrible behaviour of your U21 team in the Ulster U21 competition Brokencrossbar. By all accounts it was one of the worst demonstrations of bad discipline scene for a long time with a young Omagh player obtaining a badly broken leg.

[thejuice]

The Portlaoise player was a lot taller than the Kilmurry-Ibrickane player that he caught with his arm in the first minute.  The match had just started about 30 seconds and it was a freezing cold day and he miss timed the tackle.  The ref should have taken all this into account.

I think the player in question should take these things into account before  throwing himself into a tackle like that, not the referee. What is a sending off after 69 minutes & 30 seconds should also be a sending off after 30 seconds.

We can't start making excuses for players. Players have as much if not more responsibility for how a game is played than the referee.