“Whoever lost was obviously going to make that complaint.”
The Antrim championship is currently surrounded with doubt, and drama, as Aghagallon beat Portglenone to advance to the senior championship final.
This would be their first final, or at least that’s the case for now, as the their semi-final win against Portglenone has been thrown into questioning after some strange decisions.
The game was a draw at full time, so went to extra time. However, when the game was still drawn after that, both teams were thought to be going to penalties.
This was the case in every other club game in the country when it was still a draw after extra time, but in this situation they were bizarrely told to play another two five-minute halves of extra time.
In this time period, Aghagallon managed to get over the line, but naturally Portglenone have raised the issue with the county board, who will be discussing it tonight, and we could potentially have a rematch on our hands.
Latest | #NorthernSwitchgearSFC Semi-Final
Full Time 2nd Period EET
Aghagallon 1-19 (22)
Portglenone 1-18 (21)@aghagallongaa have done it! ANTRIM SFC FINAL— Antrim GAA (@AontroimGAA) October 31, 2021
On the GAA Hour I raised the point that although this wasn’t the correct way of setting the match, it was still fair for both teams.
“Both teams went out and played the game, so whoever lost was obviously going to make that complaint.
“Even though it wasn’t protocol, and it wasn’t the correct thing to do, they both obviously agreed to it because they went onto the pitch.
“I’m sure they weren’t happy with it, and I mean both teams in this situation, but it’s still a matter of, who is the best team in the end, and who has got the legs to get over the line?
“It was Aghagallon in the end, so they probably do deserve their place in the final, but I can totally understand why Portglenone’s frustrations.”
We are going to a further five minutes each way in extra-time at Dunsilly..Portglenone and Aghagallon still can't be separated. Finished 1-17 apiece AET
— David Mohan (@DavidMohan99) October 31, 2021
Colm Parkinson raised the point, that it may depend on how the players reacted at the time when they were told they had to do the additional bout of extra time.
“If the Portglenone team said after the two 10s, that ‘that’s it, it’s penalties,’ and there was a bit of an argument, you might say Portglenone have a bit of a case here.
“But if they were told it was an extra five a half, and they agreed to it, and they lost it fair and square, after an epic game like that, you would be thinking ‘just take your beating.’
“The referee made a mistake for both sides, we weren’t there, we didn’t see it, there were no quotes from Portglenone, but a few said that ‘it was outrageous, we made the case to referee, we were about to walk off the field, and it was. Abigails dram,’ then you would say grand, replay the game, they were thrown off their stride, this was clearly a mistake.
“But if both of them agreed, can you not just accept that result?”
Whatever is decided, the only thing we know for certain is the other finalists will be Creggan, who beat local rivals and defending champions Cargin, in the other semi-final.
Listen to the full discussion on the GAA Hour now.
