“If the ref wanted, he could have made a draw.”
Heading into injury time in the All-Ireland final, Galway trailed by eight points and looked to be playing for pride. Goals from Conor Whelan and Joe Canning, allied to points for Canning and Niall Burke, had Limerick rattled and they needed a Graeme Mulcahy score to stay one clear.
Canning was then awarded a long-range free as the clock neared 79 minutes. It was on the very edge of the forward’s range but his effort dropped just short and Limerick survived.
On The GAA Hour, though, former Galway star Damien Hayes is certain Canning could have been awarded another free that surely would have led to a replay. Paying credit to Limerick as worthy champions, Hayes (from 48:00 below) told Colm Parkinson and JJ Delaney about a late, late trip that went unpunished.
“If you’re watching the All-Ireland back,” Hayes began, “and I’m not saying anything but Tom Condon is coming out with the ball.
“If you just watch the very last piece of play – if the referee wanted to give the free and make a draw out of it – Tom Conlon came out with the ball, he hand-passed the ball out and he kind of tripped Jason Flynn afterwards.
“If the ref wanted, he could have made a draw. Anyone who watches, it’s just the very last seconds of the match.”
Looking back on the footage and Condon (circled below) certainly does step across Flynn after passing the ball off.
“To be honest with you,” Hayes added, “I’m delighted that [awarding of a free] didn’t happen as, Jesus, it would have been absolutely terrible…
“Just watch it… Now you’re picking me up wrong here [Colm], I’m not depriving Limerick in the least. If the ref wanted – and the GAA might have been happy with the draw and more money – but it would have been an injustice if Galway got the draw.
“Limerick were the best team on the day. They were all over Galway apart from the last few minutes of the match and if they had’ve scored half of the points they missed they would have hammered Galway.”
A closer look at those final moments reveals, however, that referee James Owens (to the left of the picture) had the whistle in his mouth and at 79:32 – just as the collision was taking place – he was blowing for full-time. You can see from his arm gestures, too, that the game was over.
So that’s that. No conspiracy against the Tribesmen, just a collision right as the whistle was sounding to end a thrilling finalé in a tense final.
To Hayes’ credit, too, he feels Galway should never have been awarded the long-range free that Canning got in the first place.
“The ref, in fairness, waited to see what happened,” Hayes continued. “The ball dropped short and he let the boys pull on it. The ball could have ended up in the net but it broke and Galway still could have got it back.
“The ref gave Galway every opportunity to draw, or even win, that game but Limerick totally deserved it.”
