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24th July 2025
08:47am BST
The GAA have apologised to Kilkenny for the scoreboard error that prompted mass confusion after their All-Ireland SHC semi-final defeat by Tipperary.
According to the Irish Examiner, county stakeholders have received correspondence from the GAA, which “expresses regret for the mistake”, dubbed ‘ScoreGate’ by fans.
After a late wide from Noel McGrath was counted as a point on the stadium scoreboard, the teams believed that there was a four-point and then three-point difference between them going into and during added time.
This changed the tactics of both teams, with the Cats going after a goal and the Premier dropping deep to prevent one.
The GAA released a statement after the match confirming the error, and providing details of the investigation into the incident.
The Examiner report that Kilkenny wrote to Croke Park for clarification on the incident.
GAA national match officials manager Donal Smyth spoke last week to seek to explain the error.
He said: "It was a mixture of stuff. The time of the game probably didn't help. So at 69 minutes we had a Kilkenny sub, at 70 minutes the ball went wide, we had a Tipperary sub at the same time.
"We didn't notice the scoreboard had changed in relation to that (McGrath's wide). Then the difficulty is we didn't get a break in play to stop the game to check the thing.
"We've changed our processes last week and our protocols around that, so it's something we just have to work on."
Kilkenny manager, Derek Lyng, was gracious in defeat, and blamed the loss mainly on his side conceding four goals in the 4-20 to 0-30 loss.
He said: “I think when you concede three before half-time, you’re always going to be under pressure. We started the game very well.
“We were managing the game pretty well to that point and maybe a sense of panic when the first goal went in. I’m not sure.
“But credit to our players, I thought they responded really well, particularly in the second half. It looked like we got control of the game again.
“But conceding the fourth goal, you’re going to have to do an awful lot to win a semi-final when you concede four.”
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