National Forum

Louth V Meath Leinster Final

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Expecting the Meath team/county board to offer a replay or any county in that matter is plain wrong. This decision should have been made at provincial level or from the top at Croke Park. The GAA stuck their head in the sand for this one.

Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 979 - 17/06/2020 17:32:30    2281137

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Replying To Bon:  "Expecting the Meath team/county board to offer a replay or any county in that matter is plain wrong. This decision should have been made at provincial level or from the top at Croke Park. The GAA stuck their head in the sand for this one."
in fairness youre right, all slagging asides it shouldn't have been left at Meaths door, was it left to france for henrys slick move?

lilypad (Kildare) - Posts: 1357 - 17/06/2020 18:18:23    2281143

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Definitely 1 of the worse wrong decisions I seen made by a referee in any sport. Whatever about telling the umpire to raise the green flag without consulting him, his umpire even asked him was he sure it was the right call, I know we all can make mistakes but I would criticise the referee for most that day is the way he stayed out on the field after the final whistle he invited trouble on himself he should have headed straight for his dressing after making a contentious decision like that, no excuses for the supporters who attacked him but he made it easy for them.

DUALSUPPORT (Limerick) - Posts: 718 - 17/06/2020 19:05:48    2281146

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Replying To Bon:  "Expecting the Meath team/county board to offer a replay or any county in that matter is plain wrong. This decision should have been made at provincial level or from the top at Croke Park. The GAA stuck their head in the sand for this one."
i agree, i dont think it is ever up to anyone to offer a replay.
it was up to the leinster council to do it and they bottled it.
the problem was it was "only" louth,in their eyes.
i was working that day in a bar and at full time the disappointment for louth was all around.within 5 minutes,a few knuckle heads swinging punches at the referee and meath players changed peoples attitude.if louth supporters had went down to the pitch and peacefully protested like Offaly in 99,they would have had a better chance of getting the replay they deserved.
a good point was made above about the gaa learning nothing from any of these incidents.since 99 with jimmy cooney people have been saying "take the timekeeping off the referee".why not have a cool head for 1 minute,get a 4th official to take another look,and call the referee over to decide if needed?

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3841 - 19/06/2020 08:11:03    2281240

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The Leinster council or GAA HQ should have ordered a replay. The referee made a horrendous mistake and admitted in his match report that he had made a mistake awarding the goal. This should have been taken on board by the GAA and led them to make the appropriate decision which was to award Louth a replay which they deserved in the circumstances. It shouldn't have been down to Meath to decide if they wanted to give a replay; this wasn't the correct course of action and no county would offer a replay in such a scenario. I wouldn't be confident that if the same scenario happened today that the GAA would act any differently. Both counties seem to suffer in the aftermath of this debacle. Louth GAA have never really recovered for this fiasco.

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1179 - 19/06/2020 10:09:29    2281249

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Must be mixing me up. Seldom if ever comment on hurling. I don't like the game. I find it mind numbing and boring. (I know I'm in a minority) it's just not my thing, if it's urs fair play. One of my closest friends loves cricket, I don't like it. Each to their own is what I say. But I'd definitely seldom comment on hurling, as to be honest I wouldn't know enough about it to comment, if pushed I could probably name at most 3 hurlers in whole country and two of them would be from Meath. I know who Brian Cody is, and Davy Fitzgerald. I couldn't name any other managers."
Well this is a blatant lie. So your saying you can only name one hurler in the whole country outside Meath. From a man that spends a lot of time on Hoganstand i find that very, very hard to believe...

ConnollyDub (Dublin) - Posts: 1922 - 19/06/2020 10:14:09    2281253

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Havent been on the Hogan Stand in awhile just seen this but i had a chat with a guy from Tyrone about 6 months ago round christmas in a pub , he happened to be from the referee's club. Of course we got to talking about the Leinster final in 2010. he said he knew exactly what happened him for good or bad. In the last 10 minutes i think Louth hadnt scored anything and were begining to hang on for dear life as someone here says the game became very ragged, louth began pulling and dragging out the field a good bit and the ref had to keep blowing for meath frees, anyway each time he gives a free, hes surrounded by two louth players giving him abuse about "no free" this continues over the last few minutes and he told the lads in his club after how ****** off he was getting with this treatment, and was about to start dishing out yellows, he also told them this time he has to answer there questions on fouls will be added on.

He said the louth players had lost all discipline and shape and were constantly asking about time left etc. then as he put up 3 minutes injury time , he actually said it could have been more but left at 3 mins. in injury time com judge jumps bizarrely on a meath players back and pull him down crazy stuff, the ref gives a straight red , que more protests and surrounding, then JP Rooney starts acting the maggot not giving the ball to the meath player then he proceeds to kick it into the stand, the ref all the time surrounded by louth players, Rooney then gets hold of the ball that's thrown back and kicks it into the far side of the field.
At this point yer man says the ref is rightly ****** off and tells the players to move back away and a he adding on a further 2 mins on top of the 3 allotted. Eventually play resumes , the goal is scored and of course the protests erupt, the ref supposedly runs straight in and tells his umpire"put up the flag, put it up, its a good score", the umpire says yea, yeah and puts it up.

my thinking from looking back at video is this story sounds very genuine, at the time i hadn't noticed any of this but hearing the story from a man who wanted Louth to win that day with no axe to grind, it all looks true, you can see it on video for yourselves, I would think the umpire second guesses what he sees and thinks , jesus i must have missed sheridan getting a toe or any body part to it. like if sheridan lets the ball run onto his stomach and over the line thats a perfect goal. very easy for an umpire to second guess himself when the ref runs in like that. i think the ref says he was giving advantage to meath , and only other option was a penalty in his match report.

dickie10 (UK) - Posts: 532 - 19/06/2020 14:19:28    2281275

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Replying To ConnollyDub:  "Well this is a blatant lie. So your saying you can only name one hurler in the whole country outside Meath. From a man that spends a lot of time on Hoganstand i find that very, very hard to believe..."
Was it Hamlet or King Lear who said "The man doth protest too much"

StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 864 - 19/06/2020 14:33:09    2281280

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Replying To dickie10:  "Havent been on the Hogan Stand in awhile just seen this but i had a chat with a guy from Tyrone about 6 months ago round christmas in a pub , he happened to be from the referee's club. Of course we got to talking about the Leinster final in 2010. he said he knew exactly what happened him for good or bad. In the last 10 minutes i think Louth hadnt scored anything and were begining to hang on for dear life as someone here says the game became very ragged, louth began pulling and dragging out the field a good bit and the ref had to keep blowing for meath frees, anyway each time he gives a free, hes surrounded by two louth players giving him abuse about "no free" this continues over the last few minutes and he told the lads in his club after how ****** off he was getting with this treatment, and was about to start dishing out yellows, he also told them this time he has to answer there questions on fouls will be added on.

He said the louth players had lost all discipline and shape and were constantly asking about time left etc. then as he put up 3 minutes injury time , he actually said it could have been more but left at 3 mins. in injury time com judge jumps bizarrely on a meath players back and pull him down crazy stuff, the ref gives a straight red , que more protests and surrounding, then JP Rooney starts acting the maggot not giving the ball to the meath player then he proceeds to kick it into the stand, the ref all the time surrounded by louth players, Rooney then gets hold of the ball that's thrown back and kicks it into the far side of the field.
At this point yer man says the ref is rightly ****** off and tells the players to move back away and a he adding on a further 2 mins on top of the 3 allotted. Eventually play resumes , the goal is scored and of course the protests erupt, the ref supposedly runs straight in and tells his umpire"put up the flag, put it up, its a good score", the umpire says yea, yeah and puts it up.

my thinking from looking back at video is this story sounds very genuine, at the time i hadn't noticed any of this but hearing the story from a man who wanted Louth to win that day with no axe to grind, it all looks true, you can see it on video for yourselves, I would think the umpire second guesses what he sees and thinks , jesus i must have missed sheridan getting a toe or any body part to it. like if sheridan lets the ball run onto his stomach and over the line thats a perfect goal. very easy for an umpire to second guess himself when the ref runs in like that. i think the ref says he was giving advantage to meath , and only other option was a penalty in his match report."
Yeah, thats a very interesting take on it and I will tell that story myself in the future. Thanks for sharing.

As someone who knows firsthand just how much resentment that exists from Louth in relation to all things Meath, the players must have been frothing at the mouth in the last few minutes with the probable outcome of a win. No doubt they clearly lost the plot and antagonised the referee repeatedly, and began indiscriminate sledging of their opposition, and playing the clock etc. That much can be seen on the television coverage on youtube. You can tell even over TV coverage that the game had devolved into madness and no one had any control. Its a trend I've noticed anytime Louth and Meath meet. Meath obviously for the better half of twenty years have been a slightly above average outfit and ive witnessed Louth opposition simultaneously play out of their skins and also somehow lose the run of themselves many times in this fixture. Rivalries are rivalries and anytime Meath play any of 8/10 counties there is a good edge to proceedings but for whatever bizarre reason the atmosphere, looks, and comments in the stand vs. Louth are dark and ill-tempered. No craic, no mixing, and no joking. It's a game I hate attending. Lads roaring and hopping on the spot in the stand like its the last game thatll ever be played. I have a soft spot for Louth and lived and played there for a while, but they turn into a different creature when playing Meath in a game of football, and when they eventually do beat Meath in the championship itll do them the world of good to have the chip off their shoulder and move forward.

Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 391 - 19/06/2020 15:24:45    2281284

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Replying To dickie10:  "Havent been on the Hogan Stand in awhile just seen this but i had a chat with a guy from Tyrone about 6 months ago round christmas in a pub , he happened to be from the referee's club. Of course we got to talking about the Leinster final in 2010. he said he knew exactly what happened him for good or bad. In the last 10 minutes i think Louth hadnt scored anything and were begining to hang on for dear life as someone here says the game became very ragged, louth began pulling and dragging out the field a good bit and the ref had to keep blowing for meath frees, anyway each time he gives a free, hes surrounded by two louth players giving him abuse about "no free" this continues over the last few minutes and he told the lads in his club after how ****** off he was getting with this treatment, and was about to start dishing out yellows, he also told them this time he has to answer there questions on fouls will be added on.

He said the louth players had lost all discipline and shape and were constantly asking about time left etc. then as he put up 3 minutes injury time , he actually said it could have been more but left at 3 mins. in injury time com judge jumps bizarrely on a meath players back and pull him down crazy stuff, the ref gives a straight red , que more protests and surrounding, then JP Rooney starts acting the maggot not giving the ball to the meath player then he proceeds to kick it into the stand, the ref all the time surrounded by louth players, Rooney then gets hold of the ball that's thrown back and kicks it into the far side of the field.
At this point yer man says the ref is rightly ****** off and tells the players to move back away and a he adding on a further 2 mins on top of the 3 allotted. Eventually play resumes , the goal is scored and of course the protests erupt, the ref supposedly runs straight in and tells his umpire"put up the flag, put it up, its a good score", the umpire says yea, yeah and puts it up.

my thinking from looking back at video is this story sounds very genuine, at the time i hadn't noticed any of this but hearing the story from a man who wanted Louth to win that day with no axe to grind, it all looks true, you can see it on video for yourselves, I would think the umpire second guesses what he sees and thinks , jesus i must have missed sheridan getting a toe or any body part to it. like if sheridan lets the ball run onto his stomach and over the line thats a perfect goal. very easy for an umpire to second guess himself when the ref runs in like that. i think the ref says he was giving advantage to meath , and only other option was a penalty in his match report."
Its still not right no matter how p!$$ed off the Ref was. You can't go around bending rules for a team just because the opposition is giving it to you in the ear.

Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 979 - 19/06/2020 18:10:08    2281297

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Replying To Bon:  "Its still not right no matter how p!$$ed off the Ref was. You can't go around bending rules for a team just because the opposition is giving it to you in the ear."
it is human nature though,if someone was getting on to you over whatever would you think it was OK?
i work in a pub (or used to!!!) and do you think i rush to serve the rude customer? we often have to change the keg around then.....

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3841 - 19/06/2020 18:27:42    2281298

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Replying To perfect10:  "it is human nature though,if someone was getting on to you over whatever would you think it was OK?
i work in a pub (or used to!!!) and do you think i rush to serve the rude customer? we often have to change the keg around then....."
A man after my own heart :)

streaker (Galway) - Posts: 385 - 19/06/2020 19:53:01    2281309

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I haven't posted here myself in a while but this subject has won me over, its fair to say every level headed sports person felt the fallout from that Leinster final result, after all the result is the bone of contention and not what happened during the game, even if knowing what happened to him included, - Louth pulling and dragging with ref having to give Meath frees and being surrounded by Louth players giving him abuse, its said this continued over the last few minutes and its also said he told the lads in his club of being ****** off with the treatment he was getting..

He said the louth players had lost all discipline and shape and were constantly asking about time left etc. then as he put up 3 minutes injury time , he actually said it could have been more but left at 3 mins. in injury time com judge jumps bizarrely on a meath players back and pull him down crazy stuff, the ref gives a straight red , que more protests and surrounding, then JP Rooney starts acting the maggot not giving the ball to the meath player then he proceeds to kick it into the stand, the ref all the time surrounded by louth players, Rooney then gets hold of the ball that's thrown back and kicks it into the far side of the field.
At this point yer man says the ref is rightly ****** off and tells the players to move back away and a he adding on a further 2 mins on top of the 3 allotted. Eventually play resumes , the goal is scored and of course the protests erupt, the ref supposedly runs straight in and tells his umpire"put up the flag, put it up, its a good score", the umpire says yea, yeah and puts it up.

Louth gaa surely suffered a serious sporting injustice, the insinuations and finger pointing at the Louth team here does not justify the end result. I thought for a while after the game that Louth should have been offered a replay, but now I think that the goal should have been deleted from the final score and Louth crowned Leinster Champions.

There's an old saying, -"If we must fail, we should boldly meet the danger"

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 2161 - 19/06/2020 22:29:56    2281324

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Replying To perfect10:  "it is human nature though,if someone was getting on to you over whatever would you think it was OK?
i work in a pub (or used to!!!) and do you think i rush to serve the rude customer? we often have to change the keg around then....."
I get what your saying but the referees needs to be bigger than that. Rules are rules whether he wants to implement them or not.
The biggest shame is that lessons were not learned from that day, with both Waterford and limerick Hurlers finding out in the past few seasons.

Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 979 - 20/06/2020 14:35:22    2281364

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oh of course its the fault of the referee no doubt but yer man i suppose being his clubman defended him, he just pointed out the ref was under a barrage of pressure in last few minutes. Now to be honest i think peter fitzpatrick is probably a poor manager at getting players to have cool heads he was not that cool himself if memory serves and his fervor probably fed into the players, that louth team really should have seen the game out. they had been around for a good while. put in great displays against tyrone in 2006, cork in 2007 and donegal around then too.

dickie10 (UK) - Posts: 532 - 20/06/2020 23:07:26    2281412

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----- we all know it's a healthy thing to fight our corner and argue our point, that said, when we look at the fallout from covid 19 and the destruction it caused mentally and physically across the country, personally I found that it was the beginning of a wakeup call for me.

Separately, when I learned of Garda Colm Horkan's brutal murder and after watching a clip of his funeral, well personal again I found it a living night mare, a man that by all accounts was a larger than life person and a prominent GAA man.
The 2010 leinster senior football is not a contentious issue for me anymore, perhaps mistakes were made and the final result was, lets say, hearth breaking for Louth folk, to put it kindly Louth have many more chances to stake claim on a Leinster title whereas unfortunately the victims of covid 19 and in particular "Garda Colm Horkan" have no chance at all.


Garda Colm Horkan - Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 2161 - 22/06/2020 08:52:18    2281493

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Louth GAA is in bad shape.

Can't see them contesting a Leinster final again.

Past hurler (None) - Posts: 285 - 23/06/2020 10:56:42    2281599

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Horrible decision or not we can't replay every game that has a bad decision. I hate when one decision is focused in on as if it was special like Limerick v KK last year and loads going on about the late decision against Limerick as if that mistake by the ref is different because it happens late.

A goal is worth 3 points so you'll probably find 3 times a Meath player was fouled and no free given to even it up if you go back and look at every refs decision over 70 mins and you can't replay this game just cause it was poor old Louth but not replay a game under the same circumstances because Kerry or Dublin were robbed

It is really frustrating though that umpires are consulted more

Breezy (Limerick) - Posts: 1106 - 23/06/2020 11:39:51    2281605

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Replying To Breezy:  "Horrible decision or not we can't replay every game that has a bad decision. I hate when one decision is focused in on as if it was special like Limerick v KK last year and loads going on about the late decision against Limerick as if that mistake by the ref is different because it happens late.

A goal is worth 3 points so you'll probably find 3 times a Meath player was fouled and no free given to even it up if you go back and look at every refs decision over 70 mins and you can't replay this game just cause it was poor old Louth but not replay a game under the same circumstances because Kerry or Dublin were robbed

It is really frustrating though that umpires are consulted more"
It doesn't help when the umpires are just friends of the referees or "good club men". Time for umpires to be fully trained refs, there's too much at stake in inter county games.

Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 979 - 23/06/2020 12:37:28    2281610

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Replying To Breezy:  "Horrible decision or not we can't replay every game that has a bad decision. I hate when one decision is focused in on as if it was special like Limerick v KK last year and loads going on about the late decision against Limerick as if that mistake by the ref is different because it happens late.

A goal is worth 3 points so you'll probably find 3 times a Meath player was fouled and no free given to even it up if you go back and look at every refs decision over 70 mins and you can't replay this game just cause it was poor old Louth but not replay a game under the same circumstances because Kerry or Dublin were robbed

It is really frustrating though that umpires are consulted more"
I don't think a replay should be a solution to these issues, but it was still an epically poor piece of refereeing.
Late decisions will always garner more attention than those earlier in games, as we can be much more sure of their effect on the result.
In this game, we know that Louth would have won the game if the ref made the right call, as it was the last action of the game. The same can't be said about poor decisions throughout a game, as teams can react to these and we don't know what impact they actually have.
The theory mentioned above (i.e. that he was sick of Louth's behaviour at the end of the match), doesn't excuse it in any way. In fact, if that's true, it makes it even worse as it would indicate he made the decision deliberately. I'd be of the opinion that it was an honest mistake, but he just did so many things wrong in that instance. He lost all composure as a ref at the most critical moment.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 875 - 25/06/2020 07:47:39    2281778

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