Munster championship 2014

[johnneycool]

Davy Fitz, like Mickey Harte in the football was less than impressed with the ref today - Cork scored 2-11 from frees. Has Davy a point or is Davy just trying to make excuses ?.

Davy has a slight point as some decisions did go against them such as the podge collins going down over the ball with Shane O'Neill standing over him, McGrath gave the free to Cork for Collins not getting up off the ball, a few minutes later, same thing happened Cadogan with IcInerney standing over him, yet another free to Cork, lacking consistency.

At the same time the amount of arms and hurls around the neck and head yesterday made it hard to referee and TBH Clare were the biggest protagonists of this, although Cork were also at it.

Clare got beat because they made more mistakes whilst in possession and IMO Tuohy the keeper isn't as good as Kelly was last year and one of those frees could and should have been saved. They'll regroup and be hard to work with in the qualifiers.

Cork have improved immensely from the first day out against Waterford and have a good few options in the forwards now even with Lehane blowing hot and cold and Harnedy not really at himself yet.

They'll go into the game against Limerick as favourites now, but Limerick have a pretty good defensive unit so it'll be interesting.

[Applesisapples]

Davy like Harte has more than a point. There was no consistency from James McGrath today. Deciding to allow a free forall in the second jalf was worse than the onesided whistling of the first half. Whilst Cork appeared to be the better team over the 70 minutes in my  opinion the ref had too much influence on the outcome.

[johnneycool]

Davy like Harte has more than a point. There was no consistency from James McGrath today. Deciding to allow a free forall in the second jalf was worse than the onesided whistling of the first half. Whilst Cork appeared to be the better team over the 70 minutes in my  opinion the ref had too much influence on the outcome.

That point can sometimes be lost in the delivery with both Davy and Mickey Harte.

If you stand a berate a referee for every decision he gives against you even when they're genuine fouls then when you have a valid point its just put down to you ranting and raving as usual.
Bugler is a fierce man for the arms and hurl around the neck, his foul on Harnedy was correct and needless, yet Davy was going bonkers. As from last year referees are clamping down on these types of challenges Sometimes a referee gives the opposition more fouls just because you are indeed fouling more.

Davy will circle the wagons in the camp, create an 'everyone hates us' mentality and hope that this is the spur to get the team ticking again.

IMO Harte has not right to complain about the time when he sends his keeper up to take frees 40 yards from goal, but thats for another well trodden thread.

[iorras]

I think if Clare had just concentrated on hurling, especially in the first half, instead of the sideshow antics, they would have been alot better off. They have a right to be aggrieved at some of the referring decisions but the abuse that the Clare players, and in particular hurley carrier number 2 for Clare (wearing the number 2 bib) were throwing at the officials can only do one  thing, and subconsciously at least, turn them against you. Yer man was a joke, running all over the field, getting involved in everything, he was about to have a word with Pa Horgan at one stage when he was lining up for a free, Brian Gavin tells him to "cop the f*ck on" and get off the pitch (or words to that affect) and yer man sends a torrent of abuse Gavins way and ends up practically squaring up to him. Cork on the other hand appear almost gentlemanly in their approach, that has to have an impact on officials whether they are aware of it or not.

[orangeman]

Davy is circling the wagons already :

Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald has called for certain bodies within the GAA to be investigated.

Fitzgerald was disgusted by James McGrath's officiating of yesterday's tie, refusing to elaborate, however, on whether or not he was making reference to the refereeing branch of the association when claiming "one or two bodies need to be looked into".

Earlier this year the All-Ireland-winning boss said Clare were targeted by referees throughout the league solely because of their newly acclaimed status.

Asked if Clare were disappointed with McGrath's performance, Fitzgerald hung his head. "Are you not going to answer that question?" queried one reporter.

"I don't need to. I don't need to," he replied. "Cork seemed to get a few soft frees which put them ahead early on. Their two goals came from frees. We were finding it a small bit harder to get frees," he continued.

"The second goal came off Aidan Walsh fielding a ball he shouldn't have got. He should not have been able to field a ball the way he did, got it in and I suppose James McGrath couldn't wait to blow the whistle then to give them a penalty. Cork won but I am pointing out the obvious things to you as well, so I am.

"I am not going to hide behind any issues. At the end of the day Cork were better on the field of play, so they were. It doesn't matter about decisions or lack of decisions, they were the better team today and I really feel that, but there are some things that badly need to be looked into in the GAA and one or two bodies need to be looked into.

"Listen, I will deal with this in my own way. There is something I might speak about at the end of the year. There is something that is going to have to be looked at because I knew something was going to happen today before the game even happened. If you know that going into a game you are wasting your time."

[Tony Baloney]

Davy would be better taking the tinfoil hat off.

[johnneycool]

Davy would be better taking the tinfoil hat off.

Davy seems to be getting a bit of support from within his own county, considering his Da is county secretary its hardly a surprise;

From Hoganstand;

Banner chief calls for full investigation
17 June 2014

Clare players surround referee James McGrath after he awards a penalty to Cork during the Munster SHC semi final at Semple Stadium. INPHO
Clare County Board chairman Michael McDonagh has called for a full investigation into Sunday's Munster SHC semi-final defeat to Cork at Thurles.

The Banner County camp were particularly unimpressed by the performance of referee James McGrath and McDonagh says the whole game should be analysed as well as events before and after half time:

"We just want to make sure what happened in Thurles yesterday never happens again," he told The Irish Examiner on Monday.

"We were beaten by a better team - we have no problem with that but there are issues during that match that should be analysed by the higher authorities in Croke Park. And action should be taken.

"The whole match should be analysed from A-Z. They're big enough men to see exactly what went on there. What I'm looking for is a complete analysis of the game by GAA management. They should get this done and a report should be sent out to each of the counties.

"Everybody deserves to know exactly what went on there. We're training county teams for a long, long time. We put a lot of effort into it and the bottom line is that I'm looking for a fair analysis of the game.

"It costs hundreds of thousands to prepare a team. I'm not pointing my finger at anybody and I want a report back from the management committee. It's not a major thing to do."

- See more at: http://www.hoganstand.com/Hurling/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=218535#sthash.BG3zRzhJ.dpuf

[AZOffaly]

Clare would sicken your shit. Back when Loughnane was over them they went from being the nation's favourites to the pantomime baddie in about 6 months. Davy seems intent on repeating the dose.

[johnneycool]

The Banner County camp were particularly unimpressed by the performance of referee James McGrath and McDonagh says the whole game should be analysed as well as events before and after half time:

What is meant to have happened? I know McGrath was waiting on wee Davy to come out before starting the second half, but Davy didn't show. I wonder was he going to show him to the stands??

[Tony Baloney]

"there are some things that badly need to be looked into in the GAA and one or two bodies need to be looked into"

"There is something I might speak about at the end of the year. There is something that is going to have to be looked at because I knew something was going to happen today before the game even happened. If you know that going into a game you are wasting your time."

There will always be grievances with an individual refereeing performance, however Davy seems to be intimating that there are dark forces at work in the GAA to bring down Clare 

[deiseach]

If they think the ref cheated them, they should say as much. But they won't. Weasels.

[Milltown Row2]

What a tosser, and while I was questioning some of the decisions there is no way referees are being instructed to 'take a team down' What a complete and utter tool. Keep publically attacking the referees and he'll get nothing the rest of the year, any marginal decisions will go against them.

I'd say McGrath got 2/3 decisions wrong and that's because I had the luxury of video replay. How many mistakes did Wee Davy make? Clare lost the fight, tactically and mentally. JBM is a class act

[AZOffaly]

Reports coming out that McGrath was 'interfered with' in the tunnel at half time. I think that's what McGrath was waiting for. Of course little pipsqueak waited until the game had started before he came out.

[Asal Mor]

If you stand a berate a referee for every decision he gives against you even when they're genuine fouls then when you have a valid point its just put down to you ranting and raving as usual.

+1. If you're as unsporting in your attitude to referees as Davy has been all his career, then you deserve any bad decisions you get. AZ is right about the Loughnane similarity. It's looking like '98 all over again. It seems inevitable that Offaly will come through the back door and beat Kilkenny in the final.

[Jim_Murphy_74]

What a t**ser, and while I was questioning some of the decisions there is no way referees are being instructed to 'take a team down' What a complete and utter tool. Keep publically attacking the referees and he'll get nothing the rest of the year, any marginal decisions will go against them.

I'd say McGrath got 2/3 decisions wrong and that's because I had the luxury of video replay. How many mistakes did Wee Davy make? Clare lost the fight, tactically and mentally. JBM is a class act

I don't buy the conspiracy thing (and if I did I would say it's anti-Davy, not anti-Clare).  Equally Clare should have learnt from 98 that these things go from motivating factor to millstone very quick.

However, I include a cut and paste from Clare hurlers forum which show that in the first half alone there was more that 2/3 decisions:

will make it easy for folks...times from on rte player feed above..look at the elapsed time between each of these events

min 17.24 Cronin collect ball, falls going forward, no contact, surrounded while trying to get up, free in
18.09 Head high tackle on Conlon, forces causes Kearney to drop hurl, Conlon breaks "tackle" and scores, no caution no free
21.10 Cadogan collects balls going away from goal and runs straight into OConnor with elbow up, Free in, no use of arms etc
26:48 Podge Collins ankle tapped going to collect ball, Cork player ensures he cannot get up, Cork free
27:30 Harnedy falls forward into McInerney after collecting Walsh pass, no use of hands no interference, Cork free
29:09 Double pull across Tony Kelly, second was a deliberate strike, Cork yellow...rules state its a red
30:34 Bill Cooper charges straight at Tuohy with hurl up, play on
33:11 Tuohy collects ball and comes out, Cadogan clearly puts his left arm up onto his helmet to prevent, Tuohy attempts to handpass, free in, Cork score
40:00 Bugler concedes soft free for use of hand in dropping ball, probably a free but normally not given, Cork score (see next incident)
42:58 Mcdonnell uses both hands to prevent McGrath getting to ball out on sideline, CLare crowd go nuts, no free
43:07 OConnor penalized for use of arm, often not given, but technically a free, for decent moved in 35m to scorable position, Cork score
44.40 Podge Collins cleaned, no free,play on, Galvin has to collect and beat a player before scoring off his left....then ref books Kearney.....no free!
45:42, ball drops to MF, Kelly absolutely taken out of it as it drops, ball delivered inside, Cadogan fails to collect, Browne surrounds him using arms, free in, Bugler receiving treatment, Cork goal

Also just on half time Conor Ryan was completely taken out but McGrath was looking up the field to see where his clearance would go.

Cards on table here: I am from Clare, was at the match and was never as dismayed by a referee as that. 

That said I think Clare have more issues to tackle than consistency of referees.

/Jim.