David Reidy was the unluckiest man in Cusack Park last Sunday.
The Éire Óg Ennis club man was on the receiving end of one hell of a dirty belt from the butt of Tom Condon’s hurley one minute. The next, he was looking up at an unjust red card after Diarmuid Byrnes went to ground way too easily after a collision between the pair.
Reidy’s facial expression running off the pitch told a story in itself. The man was fuming and rightly so because that could have been costly for the Banner men.
Luckily for James Owens and his officials, their faux pas didn’t crumble the Clare challenge. Men like Tony Kelly and John Conlon stood up in their county’s hour of need as they ran away from Limerick to book their place in the Munster senior hurling final.
Donal Maloney and Gerry O’Connor’s men will take on Cork in the provincial decider on July 1, and David Reidy will be free to play.
Clare requested a hearing to overturn the suspension that a straight red card brings, and the Central Hearings Committee found the infraction he had been accused of as unproven.
Praise the Lord.
