“The room up there was very busy, Derek was throwing balls at me all day.”
A Tipp man and a Waterford man walked into a studio and, after a day when their counties went head-to-head, they didn’t agree on too much. Liam Sheedy felt that, for Michael Kiely’s goal, Patrick Curran was guilty of throwing the ball but Derek McGrath wasn’t having it.
The Waterford man said that, with the footage playing in front of him, he could see a ‘small separation’ between ball and hand and all you could say is that he must have some eye-sight. We were watching the same footage and let’s just say you’d have done well to have spotted a ‘clear release and a definite striking action with the hand.’
Then again, as Liam Sheedy says, you’d do well to spot it at the best of times and that’s why, in enforcing the hand-pass rule, it’s almost an impossible task that referees have nowadays.
“Like any good corner back, Craig Morgan is going to protest but he was adamant,” said Sheedy. “Certainly my first instinct was that it was a throw,” added the Tipp man.
“100% for me, there was separation,” responded McGrath, quick as a flash.
“Albeit a small separation and that’s been my consistent point on this. Calum Lyons was blown for a perfectly legitimate one, as was Cian Lynch but if you want that debate, you’re going to be here for a long time.”
“I don’t know how the referee could make that call,” responded Sheedy.
“it’s impossible for the referees to judge from that distance so I don’t think what we’re asking them to do is possible right now. But it could have been a free out then.”
Among others, former Tipperary hurler All-Ireland winner Conor O’Donovan has been criticising the rule and his belief is that, with the hand-pass as is impossible to police, the rule should be changed. He says that players should have to either bat the ball or hand-pass using their opposite hand, which would certainly make for a big change to how the game is played.
Liam Sheedy and Derek McGrath take a look at some of the big calls in today's Munster SHC clash between Tipperary and Waterford #RTEGAA pic.twitter.com/TtGZj6v49R
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) April 17, 2022
Another topic of discussion was Michael Kiely’s pull that left Seamus Kennedy with a cut on his head but while Anthony Daly and Shane Dowling felt he should have been sent off, Derek McGrath felt it was a ‘valiant and sincere’ attempt at playing the ball.
“First of all, it was the Mikey Kiely decision before half-time. Being completely unbiased, for me, Seamus Kennedy appears out of nowhere to block it and Mikey Kiely is making an absolute valiant and sincere attempt to pull on the ball. So for me, it’s a complete accidental stroke.”
Dalo saw it differently.
“I don’t think that’s anywhere much near the ball. He got his head split. It was loose use of the hurley and I think it should have been a red card.”
