“It was a big grey area.”
Much has been made of the Shane Walsh free kick against Derry in the semi-final of the All-Ireland that sailed clearly over the bar but wasn’t given by HawkEye.
There was talk that the Tribesmen were going to refuse to come out at half time, the pundits on both Sky Sports and RTE were up in arms about the decision, and it was bizarre situation for everyone involved.
Thankfully, the point was awarded before the teams came out for the second half, meaning that it was all square between the Ulster and Connacht champions.
However, another oversight has just been highlighted by the Oakleaf midfielder Conor Glass on RTE Radio One, who reveals that his side weren’t even told or made aware of the fact that the point had been awarded.
“It was a big grey area. I actually didn’t realise (that the previous point was added on) until they went a point up after Shane Walsh’s free kick five minutes into the second half.
“When he did score – pre-half-time – I was standing under the crossbar and it was clearly over the bar. So I was a bit confused obviously with Hawk-eye.
“It wasn’t communicated very well, either to the Derry staff or even the referee or GAA officials, that the point was added back on. The players didn’t have a clue that it was.
“It is obviously off-putting. Look, I’m not going to sit here and say that if we’d started the second half a point up, it would have made a big difference, because our second-half performance wasn’t too great.
“But elite sport is about fine margins and if we had that lead going into the second half, it could have changed the dynamic of the game.
“In the heat of the moment, it wasn’t communicated well and it wasn’t dealt with well by the players ourselves.”
