Battle of the Boyne - Meath Vs Louth - Leinster Final 11/7/2010

[Hound]

The assault on Seán Boylan is the biggest factor of all,

Did Sean not come out himself and say it was nothing, just a bit of shoving?


From what I hear the Meath County Board had all but agreed to offer the replay, they'd been in contact with the GAA and the match was to be played in Croke Park on Sunday. But the players/management said no, which caught the MCB by surprise so they've deferred a final decision, but at this stage it looks highly unlikely the game will be replayed.

[Hardy]

The assault on Seán Boylan is the biggest factor of all,

Did Sean not come out himself and say it was nothing, just a bit of shoving?

I didn't hear that, but the point is neither did many others. All people know is that there are reports he was assaulted. Imaginations probably take over after that, especially in the case of such a revered figure.

[Fuzzman]

I've not read all this thread or the other one along the same lines so maybe this has already been said.

Although its not the exact same circumstances there are huge parallels with the Dublin v Tyrone AI final in 1995.
It was my 1st AI final as I missed the 1986 one and so with PTG as our one man band we were hopeful of beating a mediocre Dublin team that struggled to beat all other Northern teams.

I remember afterwards feeling cheated out of an All Ireland with both the Darling Charlie sending off & then the Sean McLaughlin point that was cancelled out by Paddy Russell as he deemed "God" had touched the ball on the ground.

There was talk afterwards of replays and justice would be done but as we see time & time again it wont happen.
As they were saying on Des Cahill's show last night, its part of sport to make such big mistakes and even though its not fair it  has always been like this.
It will not change until it changes at congress before the start of a new year where they clearly state that a Ref can look at video evidence after a match and decide whether a result changing event occurred and the match should be replayed.
Personally I would be of the view that we do have the technology and that it should be SOLELY the Ref's decision if he wants to call for video evidence like they do in rugby.

I for one feel sorry for Louth and despite the action of some of their loutish fans afterwards, they should have won that game and Meath got an illegal goal that won them the game. When the ref admiited he made a mistake he should have the authority to say that it was a match deciding mistake and a replay would be the best outcome.
Then no need for the CCCC or any county board to get involved but others would say that's too much pressure on the ref.
He was the one that made the mistake and he has admitted that so he should be allowed to decide how to fix it.

[Lone Shark]

This is like the ridiculous Thierry Henry crap all over again.

Let's replay the Cavan v Derry Ulster final from '97 again. 1:35 mins - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2e2EV8vNDU

There's actually no need to replay that one at all. I looked at the highlights clip again there and Larry Reilly took two hops for Cavan's eighth point (approx 3 mins in) so they can actually just hand the title straight to Derry on a 1-12 to 0-16 score.

[AZOffaly]

As I said elsewhere, it's disappointing from one aspect if that's the view the Meath players have taken, but from the abuse Sheridan took to the box on mouth Ward got, it's probably understandable too.

[dublin7]

Boylan himself said it was just verbal stuff from a fan & there was nothing in it. But sure don't let that get in the way of a good story.

Anyone who takes Liveline seriously over things like this needs to grow up. I think it's a policy of that show to allow as many cranks on as possible to generate controversy.

A handful of fans out of about 25K & apparently all Louth fans are scumbags. You want to here to amount of racial abuse Jayo has taken over the years from fans around the country (especially Meath).

Of course Louth fans are going to be upset. Not defending the idiots who went after the referee but to be cheated out of a first Leinster title in 50 something years in the last minute is bound to be hard to take.

Also to have to isten to Sheridan on national tv claim it was a perfectly good goal & sure he should have had a penalty must have made it even worse.

It's a good job it wasn't Dublin involved. Can only imagine the criticism & abuse they would get (typical dubs etc.)

[Canalman]

Fuzzman, was also at 1995AIF and I can remember clearly the amount of "soft" frees awarded to Tyrone during that game.
Dublin's victory glossed over this aspect of the game. However the one marginal decision imo that went in Dublin's favour that day has been seized upon by Tyrone people for years as "robbery".


Just my opinion.

[Jinxy]

Boylan himself said it was just verbal stuff from a fan & there was nothing in it. But sure don't let that get in the way of a good story.

Anyone who takes Liveline seriously over things like this needs to grow up. I think it's a policy of that show to allow as many cranks on as possible to generate controversy.

A handful of fans out of about 25K & apparently all Louth fans are scumbags. You want to here to amount of racial abuse Jayo has taken over the years from fans around the country (especially Meath).

Of course Louth fans are going to be upset. Not defending the idiots who went after the referee but to be cheated out of a first Leinster title in 50 something years in the last minute is bound to be hard to take.

Also to have to isten to Sheridan on national tv claim it was a perfectly good goal & sure he should have had a penalty must have made it even worse.

It's a good job it wasn't Dublin involved. Can only imagine the criticism & abuse they would get (typical dubs etc.)

Ah the old "Imagine it was us!" line from the poor downtrodden Dublin fans. 
Get over yourself.

[Canalman]

Also getting a bit sick of all this "poor Louth" nonsense. Fact is the reason Louth haven't won Leinster since the 50s is they were not good enough.

To be fair they in particular in the 1990s had some of the best  individual players in the province.

[Hardy]

I should point out that I'm reporting attitudes of people I've communicated with. The attitudes range from reasonable to absurd, but that's not the point. I'm only trying to illustrate he factors that are making people think as they are thinking.

As regards Joe's opinion, people don't seem to understand it was one comment, immediately after the match, probably without seeing the video. People seem to think he was commenting all day yesterday. Do they not understand the Monday papers are printed on Sunday night? As regards his penalty claim, I spoke to several Louth people, who had seen the video, who also thought it was a penalty. I don't, by the way.

[DB_An_Mhi]

Hardy,

Have you seen these photos.

http://www.sportsfile.com/id/441089/ - Was he tripped first before the dive

http://www.sportsfile.com/id/441090/

http://www.sportsfile.com/id/441091/

[thejuice]

I think we've all said enough, if there's a replay, so be it, if not, c'est la vie.

[Hardy]

Hardy,

Have you seen these photos.

http://www.sportsfile.com/id/441089/ - Was he tripped first before the dive

http://www.sportsfile.com/id/441090/

http://www.sportsfile.com/id/441091/

I hadn't seen those, DB, but my experience is that still photos are unreliable evidence. I don't see a clear penalty on the video, but it's not that easy to see and I haven't done frame-by-frame. At first glance, the thing that seems nearest to a penalty to me is when the keeper sits on him. I suppose that's a foul, but maybe 50/50.

[TYRONE HACK]

So the Meath players say no, I hope Joe and the boys can live with the label, a tarnished Leinster title, Joe Sheridan had a chance to show young players you can be honest and take the moral high ground, but no he will forever be known as a cheat, I have no axe to grind either way, Sludden got it wrong, theres no excuse for that but for Meath to just walk away from it all into the quarters and say the assults afterwards etc etc made their minds up to not offer a replay sounds hollow, Just cheats thats it, the word doesn't rest easy with them though

[Hardy]

Jesus I hate the school holidays.