Wexford rattled in 1-7 without reply to beat Limerick by three points in their Allianz Leagues Division 1B clash today but it could have been so much different.
Seven points clear, early in the second half, Limerick’s David Dempsey was all set for an easy goal when he was hauled around the collar and yanked to the ground.
RTE’s Ger Canning was expecting a penalty. So were the rest of us.
Referee Diarmuid Kirwan didn’t touch his whistle.
The game rolled on as Dempsey was ragdolled to the deck. The umpires? Well…
Umpire: "What? Penalty?? Sorry…. me glasses have fogged up" pic.twitter.com/CTr0BWoxSk
— Pat McCarry (@patmccarry) February 12, 2017
Play on was the call. Nothing to see here.
Wexford roared back into it and had edged ahead when Dempsey got clear again. On this occasion, Wexford goalkeeper Mark Fanning came out and dealt with it.
By deal with it, we mean slow down Dempsey until the cavalry arrived, hang off his leg and go down clutching his face when a free was awarded.
No complaints with the free as this one was not a penalty but there wasn’t even a whiff of a yellow card for Fanning after this highly cynical piece of play.
Two gilt-edged scoring chances denied. You’d expect Limerick boss John Kiely to be bulling after his side lost 1-14 to 0-14.
He was, in fairness, but he had calmed down a touch by the time RTE reached him. Kiely said:
“A couple of decisions that we would have definitely wanted to go our way. David Dempsey was through on goal twice and he was hacked down. It was, eh, disappointing.”
You can say that again.
What was it Davy Fitzgerald said about the little fish and breaks?
