‘Operator error’ sees Hawk-Eye scrapped for Football Quarter Finals

A glitch during Monaghan's victory over Armagh was labelled as "operator error".

The GAA has decided against the deployment of Hawk-Eye for Sunday's All-Ireland Quarter Final double-header at Croke Park. The call was made after a brief service outage during Monaghan's penalty shoot-out win over Ulster rivals Armagh. Monaghan's Micheal Brannigan shot wide of the target towards the Hill 16 end of the ground, with umpires calling for the tracking platform to review the call. However, Hawk-Eye was unable to visualise the path of the ball, as a "data unavailable" message appeared on the Croke Park big screen. A delay in play ensued before referee Conor Lane deemed the shot to have gone wide. [caption id="attachment_289736" align="alignnone" width="640"] Referee Conor Lane awaits the decision from Hawk-Eye which ultimately never came. (Credit: Sportsfile)[/caption] The company which operates the Hawk-Eye system has since revealed that the glitch was due to "operator error" and that a review of the incident has been arranged for next week. In a statement released after the game, the GAA said that;

"During the Armagh v Monaghan game yesterday the Hawk-Eye score detection system returned a 'data unavailable' message. The GAA requested an explanation from Hawk-Eye who concluded that the message was a result of operator error". "The GAA is happy that the system review confirmed the on-field decision by the referee taken at the time. However, the GAA has decided to stand down the use of the system today to allow Hawk-Eye to undertake a more thorough review in the coming week".

It is not the first time in recent memory that the Hawk-Eye system has malfunctioned, with last year's semi-final between Galway and Derry seeing a similar incident. Galway forward Shane Walsh curled a shot inside the post which went unrewarded, before the referee added the score at half-time following a video review. Related Articles:

• Spectator tries to save his team in Leitrim Gaelic football League as ref starts second half without them
• Jack O’Connor hails Diarmuid O’Connor as Kerry’s midfield silence the doubters
• Gaelic football quarter finals: All the teams, action and talking points
• “It definitely has its benefits for camogie” – Clare star hails influence of hand-ball
• “I had a lot of miles on the clock, and it did get hard” – Why summer with Donegal Boston was a tonic for Connolly