Gaelic Football - Rules & Regulations discussion/clarification

[Armagh18]

Recent hurling match - time was almost up and free was awarded to team 1 point down.
Free was taken and hit post but ref blew whistle in error thinking ball had gone dead.
Referee gave a retake due to his error and team equalised to bring game to extra time and subsequently won.
Supporters and mentors on team who subsequently lost were calling for the ball to be thrown in on the 21.
Is there a specific rule in the GAA rule book on this or what was the correct course of action?

Jesus.. I wouldn't like to be trying to answer that and I'm a ref!

Ref prematurely blew whistle!

He genuinely made a mistake, replayed the free.. If a free for instance hits a physio on the pitch its replayed, same as hitting the ref, so there is a rule for that. Hitting the upright  and before the ball was played on the ground he blew, so there was no aftermath of the resulting ball being played, so there is no idea how that would have played out.

Having a throw in at the 21 isn't the fix either or in the rules I don't think. So by admitting the mistake, free replayed you have to look at it like this, if it was your team on the end of that, which way would you like it?

What's the rule for hitting the ref? Say last seconds a ball is played in and hits the ref 30m out from goal is that a free kick or a hop ball?

Retakes from position of free

Say it happened in open play and just outside the arc, would you allow the team to shoot for a 2-pointer from the free? What's the rule book say should happen?

Indirect.