The cowardly belt that left Ross King with a split lip and with two teeth knocked back

Rathdowney/Errill lost the Laois county final on Sunday.

The loss of their best player and the best player in Laois, Ross King, to a facial injury after 25 minutes of the game proved a telling blow as the 2014 champions went on to lose by two points. Jordan Walshe, a key man for one of the other big players in Laois hurling recently - Clough Ballacolla - tweeted his disgust at the standard of refereeing in Laois in the aftermath of Sunday's final.

"The standard of refereeing in Laois is actually laughable, someone has to be nearly killed before they even consider giving a red card and today was a prime example of it," said the forward.

Footage soon emerged of one of the incidents that incited Walshe, and left Ross King in hospital two teeth down and with a split lip. It all started when the Camross number eighteen Dean Delaney took his eye of the ball to strike in the direction of the Rathdowney/Errill number 9, John Purcell instead. The ball broke, leading to a ruck forming down the left hand side of the field. Eight players, four from each side scrambled for the sliotar, with Camross' Delaney and number 7, Darrell Dooley, pulling wildly and uncontrollably at the ball. Then, just as Purcell got the ball into his hands for Rathdowney/Errill, Camross' Dooley pulled high, hard and wildly on the back of his leg. So in came Ross King with his hurl down in a nonthreatening position and with a shoulder for Dooley, only for the number seven to give him the butt of the hurley in through the faceguard. Watch the footage in slow-mo here. https://twitter.com/WalsheJordan/status/1049721698696785920 King was in visible discomfort straight away, had to be substituted and the photo of the damage down shows just how gruesome the injury was. https://twitter.com/Woolberto/status/1049953807084515328 The ref proceeded to issue yellow cards to number 11 Niall Holmes and number 7 Dooley. A butt in through the faceguard is dangerous, it's sharp and it could have caused even more damage, especially when delivered with such force. Not only does it deserve a red card, it deserves punishment of a more severe fashion. We contacted the Laois county board who told us that they'll be reviewing footage of the incident at the meeting of their CCCC on Thursday night, where the referee's report will also be considered. That skirmish before half-time proved a costly one for Rathdowney/Errill, with their midfielder and key player Shane Dollard also forced off in its aftermath. His groin injury, however was unrelated to the wild strokes being pulled by some of the Camross players in that passage of play. Dirty play like this shouldn't be so meekly dealt with. ____________________________________________________________________________________