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

[Puckoon]

Out of curiosity, what would be the ruling of the "goal" if a referee got to watch it on tape.

1. Player falls over the goal line
2. Player drops ball and tries to kick it
3. Player misses, but ball still ends up behind the goal line.

What is the correct ruling here?

If you swung at a ball on the midfield line that you dropped - the ball is still in play. If an attacking player carries the ball over the goal line - is it a goal kick?

[moysider]

So Louth have a copy of the same report right. Lets see what Louth will do now that Meath just told the world they have no prob. cheating. I would sure like to see the report myself. Any refs out there want to comment. Just how much detail would a ref. put in a report. I dont think they describe every bloody play do they?

Not a ref but I ve had to read a few reports if you know what I mean. Usually the referee will only report the final score and bookings and sendings off. Though sometimes he doesn't include those either Only when there is something controversial will there be any detail in a report.

[TYRONE HACK]

No word of penalty for over 24 hours and then boom, the report says just that, The umpires I hear. well at least three of them wont work with ref again,
As for Meath just typical, matters little anyway as it will be one more game this Summer as for Louth I expect maybe just another outing too

[pkerin]

BOO HOO hardstation. when you bring something constructive to the table let me know.
In the heat of the moment things happen. Players react, but when you have days to think about it and you still decide to run for the hills with your medals well that says something. Thats how I see it.

[Archie Mitchell]

Is it just me or is there anyone else out there think he (J.S) only made a half-hearted attempt to kick the ball when the ball was gone from him?

That thought did occur to me.

Its not the most natural thing to try and kick a ball from your hands when your lying on the ground but you could see clearly his intentions were to kick the ball into the net, whether it was a half-assed attempt or not.

[Mac2]

Seriously at this stage does it matter a damn what the ref said in the report, if he said he had pink panties on does it matter a jot. Instead of just one cockup now he has 2 or 3. Doesn't matter the GAA has ruled the score recorded is final so any objection legal or otherwise has to come down to that fact being altered regardless of what led up to it.

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

If Cavan had taken Cork to the wire and were undone cos Cork received a penalty when one of their own players tripped over themselves, should it be a replay? Or is it only because one was a provincial final or live on TV? Or is it because of the reaction to the result from some Louth fans? If Louth had reluctantly accepted the referee's decision at the time would you be saying the same now? What if the controversial goal had been scored in the 3rd minute?

Human error. Move on. That pressure on Meath is grossly unfair, just because of the circumstances of Louth's provincial drought, the timing of the goal and the hysteria since.

Totally agree. It was a terrible decision and very hard on Louth but are we now to replay matches if there is a crucial decision called wrong just in the closing stages? Unfortunately there are poor refereeing calls in matches on a regular enough basis, will we have replays if the ref makes a poor call in the first half? Just the last 5 minutes? Or injury time is it? We'll be replaying games all year.

The idea of a replay is seriously flawed, once the original mistake is made thats it Im afraid. Thats tough on Louth but it happens in sport, they arent near the first and wont be the last to be robbed by the mistake of an official. Somebody was saying a few pages back its easy for Tyrone fans to say that given we are now seen as a successful county but thats just the past few years and we suffered enough poor calls too. 95 was mentioned already a few times. We had 2 key men wrongly sent off in a provincial decider 5 years ago. Tyrone bounced back from that and thats what Louth will now have to try and do.

The way the match ended was unsatisfactory and even for Meath it will feel like a tainted triumph. A replay would be equally unsatisfactory. Time to draw a line under it and move on.

[Cosmo Kramer]

Disappointed but not surprised by the decision, it was obvious after last night that they were trying to fudge their way out of it. To be honest its something we've known for years but Meath really are a disgrace to the GAA, their attitude to the game goes completely against the ethos of the sport. Most teams would be embarrassed to win their first medals in 9 years in that fashion but Meath just won't give a shit. Looking forward now to Cork or Kerry getting their hands on them later in the year.

[muppet]

Is it just me or is there anyone else out there think he (J.S) only made a half-hearted attempt to kick the ball when the ball was gone from him?

That thought did occur to me.

Its not the most natural thing to try and kick a ball from your hands when your lying on the ground but you could see clearly his intentions were to kick the ball into the net, whether it was a half-assed attempt or not.

It was a full-arsed attempt.

[muppet]

BOO HOO hardstation. when you bring something constructive to the table let me know.
In the heat of the moment things happen. Players react, but when you have days to think about it and you still decide to run for the hills with your medals well that says something. Thats how I see it.

I believe it is an even bigger BOO HOO for you.

Muppet, they won the match after about 100 universally accepted errors over the course of the game.

99 of those errors are not in the referees report.

I am really looking forward to the court case.

[cavanmaniac]

Lord knows I've little enough affection for Meath and genuinely felt desperately for Louth, but the notion of Meath offering a replay was nonsense from the get go.

You can go on about cheats and honesty and all that but from the time competitive sport began, referees have been necessary because of one thing and it's this: you cannot rely on players at any level to be honest during competition, therefore it's up to the governing body to put an effective system of officiating in place to catch them when they misbehave. End of.

If a Utopioan level of sportsmanship existed, to the degree that, say, young Sheridan ran to the ref and begged him not to give the score bcause the thoughts of winning a Leinster title with a dodgy goal so offended his moral sense as a true sporting Corinthian, then for Jesus' sake, we'd never need a ref at all - all the players being so gentlemanly and noble as to not try to bend the rules ever, so effectively, they self regulate? Wake up people.

Just as with Thierry Henry etc. the real culprit here is the governing body who frequently sends out jokes of referees who couldn't officiate a chicken fight and that's where the focus should be.

Why should Meath carry the can or the burden of retribution for the latest, truly spectacular example of momentously two-bob, ham-fisted refereeing at the highest level in our sport? If anyone offered/ordered a replay, it should be Croke Park as it was THEIR bad, and as we know this cannot happen by rule.

It's desperately tough on Louth but not Meath's fault despite the nature of the 'goal', and frankly all the moralising about them doing "the right thing" is bizarre to my mind.

(edit: 20 new replies!)

[moysider]

Well, that would appear to be that. Surprised that Meath decided to decline a replay. Not that a replay would have solved everything either. But this course of action makes them look a bit greedy. If they want to hold on to it that badly good luck to them. I doubt this will do either county any good going forward. Meath may use negative public opinion to spur them on but I would fear for Louth for the foreseeable future - even the life of this team. There has been silly talk about how they should concentrate on the qualifiers, get the head down and how this will galvanise them. Utter nonsense. They re as well to opt out now. Anybody who has been in a similar situation will know that it is impossible for a team to recover after a fillleting like that. Those Louth players will be plagued by that for the rest of their lives. It s a real tragedy for them.

Moysider you would know you were from Mayo. Your comments towards Louth future prospects smacks of the negativity that Mayo folk year in year out heap on their county team.

And year in year out our negativity is proven to be completely justified, don t you think. But my opinion above is not formed by experience of my county. Much more hands on than that. The last thing those lads will want to do any time soon is play football. Mentally they wont show up. Some of them will actually be depressed for a long time.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Disappointing. I would be livid with the Galway county board if they didn't offer a replay if Galway beat say Leitrim in the same manner in a Connacht final. That said it should be the GAA itself making these decisions. Not leaving it to individual county boards. HQ couldn't wash their hands of it quick enough.

[muppet]

Lord knows I've little enough affection for Meath and genuinely felt desperately for Louth, but the notion of Meath offering a replay was nonsense from the get go.

You can go on about cheats and honesty and all that but from the time competitive sport began, referees have been necessary because of one thing and it's this: you cannot rely on players at any level to be honest during competition, therefore it's up to the governing body to put an effective system of officiating in place to catch them when they misbehave. End of.

If a Utopioan level of sportsmanship existed, to the degree that, say, young Sheridan ran to the ref and begged him not to give the score bcause the thoughts of winning a Leinster title with a dodgy goal so offended his moral sense as a true sporting Corinthian, then for Jesus' sake, we'd never need a ref at all - all the players being so gentlemanly and noble as to not try to bend the rules ever, so effectively, they self regulate? Wake up people.

Just as with Thierry Henry etc. the real culprit here is the governing body who frequently sends out jokes of referees who couldn't officiate a chicken fight and that's where the focus should be.

Why should Meath carry the can or the burden of retribution for the latest, truly spectacular example of momentously two-bob, ham-fisted refereeing at the highest level in our sport? If anyone offered/ordered a replay, it should be Croke Park as it was THEIR bad, and as we know this cannot happen by rule.

It's desperately tough on Louth but not Meath's fault despite the nature of the 'goal', and frankly all the moralising about them doing "the right thing" is bizarre to my mind.

(edit: 20 new replies!)

Jaysus man I got in 6 replies while you were typing that.

We are not charged per post here you know.

[fearglasmor]

Those of you who seem to think the penalty issue just materialised need to go back and listen to Peter Fitzpatricks post match interview. He spoke to the ref in the dressing room after the match and said that the referee referred to a penalty.

Who exactly is it that asked Meath county board to make any decision. Central council mereley stated a fact, that they could not order a replay. As usual the media lead the crusade for Meath to do the "honourable" thing. Like media whores would recognise honour if it looke dthem in the face.

Human error is part of the game, you cant legislate to eliminate it completely. This is not the first injustice resulting from referee error and it wont be the last.

I hope Louth do not go down the legal route.