Controversial two point award was wrong in Offaly SFC but a lot more reasons behind Shamrocks' defeat

THERE has been considerable fall out from a terrifically entertaining Tullamore Court Hotel Senior Football Championship quarter-final between Shamrocks and Ferbane on Sunday where hot favourites Ferbane snatched a very fortunate 3-15 to 2-17 win.

Shamrocks were six points ahead at one stage in the second half, were the better team on the day and really should have qualified for the semi-finals.

Ferbane showed fantastic resilience to pull it out of the bag but they haven't been playing as well this year as other years and this performance raises further questions about their prospects. They will have a 50-50 chance against Edenderry in the semi-final but the possibility of a third consecutive final defeat to Tullamore is already causing nightmares down around the green fields and there is no doubt that they would have much preferred to have got the champions in the semi-final – of course Ferbane manager Ger Rafferty and the squad can't allow that sort of thinking to infiltrate and they have to continue in the belief that they will get eventually get the reward they deserve for sustained excellence in recent years.

Ferbane were desperately unlucky to lose to Tullamore in last year's final and they were furious at some refereeing decisions that went against them, with a late free given against Leon Fox a particular talking point.

They certainly got the rub of the green on this occasion and it was Shamrocks who were crying foul, highlighting a number of decisions that went against them as referee Chris Dwyer ended up a central figure.

There were several questionable decisions but the big one that really mattered was a two pointer awarded to Ferbane's Adam Egan in the fifth minute. In real time, Egan looked to be clearly inside the two point arc and footage and images suggests that he was – a two pointer is allowed if a foot is on the arc but as this grainy image shows, Egan definitely had both feet inside.

Dwyer was well positioned and it shouldn't have been awarded but it was a genuine mistake, albeit one that had a big bearing as only a point separated the sides - it also got Ferbane going after a poor start.

There is speculation that Shamrocks are considering appealing the result on the basis of that score. The rule book seems fairly clear that you can't appeal a result over a score being awarded or not given but there was a recent case in Fermanagh where a replay was awarded and that has fuelled the fire in Shamrocks – it is understood that Croke Park contacted counties in the wake of that decision and other appeals of this nature have since been lost around the country.

An appeal is probably not the way to go and they would be better off to take their medicine but that is their call and their stance will become clear in the next day or so.

There were other talking points. Adam Egan also ended up at the centre of things with a 45^th minute point that was initially waved wide before being awarded after linesman Adam Kinahan called Chris Dwyer. That was a big one and it is hard to be clear about it after watching it – it was very close to being over the top of the post, which is a wide, but either way, it was a very big call to overturn the umpire, though this happens regularly at games.

Shamrocks have been talking about several other fouls given or not given. Clips of some of these are in circulation but don't merit huge discussion – there may have been a couple of clear fouls not given but there are between 10 to 20 of those type of calls in most games and they generally balance out. Chris Dwyer is a very fair, conscientious referee and there is absolutely no way he went out to do any side.

I have seen clubs up in arms before over refereeing performances and individuals circulating evidence of how they were “wronged” - in all of these cases, it is all one sided and the 50-50 or debatable calls that went in their favour are kept out of it. On occasion, I have asked a person for the footage of a controversial incident that may not have been in their favour and it has never been supplied, brushed away with the classic “we were rode” line!

You can be sure that Shamrocks got their share of decisions and the two pointer is the one that they can really complain at.

It is part of the attraction of sport that these things happen. Referees make mistakes, so do players and team managements – reporters regularly get things wrong and mistakes are an unavoidable part of the scene for anyone at the coalface of games.

Shamrocks have got breaks themselves in the very recent past. They got to a penalty shoot out in last year's quarter-final against Ballycommon when Alan Heffernan equalised with the injury time at the end of the second period of extra time gone over half a minute over. The whistle certainly could have been and probably should have been blown by that stage but Shamrocks got out of jail on that occasion, winning the penalty shootout.

It is swings and round abouts with those type of decisions. Ferbane and Ballycommon came out the wrong side last year, it was Shamrocks on Sunday and it will be someone else later in the year. It is hard and people invest so much time and energy into games that they will be angry but that two point call was only one of the reasons Shamrocks lost on Sunday.

They went from the 42^nd to 57^th minutes without scoring with the wind on their back. The referee had nothing to do with that and it was a huge problem for them. They also self imploded to an extent – there was a swing of five points that cost Shamrocks the game, two of them were refereeing calls and three of them were their own doing.

Ferbane survived on their wits and got breaks that they won't always get. They got one fourteen metre free in the second half when Chris Dwyer brought the ball forward from just outside midfield, apparently after David Nally was prevented from taking a quick free by someone on the Shamrocks sideline. There were messy scenes as Ferbane officials reacted and thankfully it didn't get out of hand. Shamrocks coach, Tullamore man Phil O'Reilly ended up being red carded in that general incident while Ferbane later got a crucial two point free after a three man breach – Cathal Flynn took it back to the arc and floated over a sensational strike to bring the gap back down to one point with four minutes left.

Observing the three man rule should be fairly basic for teams at this stage as you go up the levels. It was an unfortunate, minimal, inadvertent breach by Shamrocks who did break it and they paid a high price. Those things happen in the white heat of battle, a genuine mistake but it was every bit as costly as the Ferbane two pointer in the first half – even more so as that cost Shamrocks two points while Dwyer's error only cost one point.

Then after Jack Clancy got the decisive goal, Shamrocks had a chance to win it deep in injury time but the outstanding Shane O'Toole-Greene got bottled up and a relieved Ferbane breathed again.

Shamrocks were very bunlucky, they played well enough to win and they can be very proud of the work they have done to turn the corner and emerge as a side capable of taking out a big gun. It is great for Offaly football to see a new contender emerging – Shamrocks still have plenty of road to travel but are moving in the right direction and everyone would love to see them win a senior football title and remove the stigma as the only parish in Offaly without a senior title.

Nigel Dunne has probably played his last senior football game for Shamrocks and it is understood that he has told them that, though they should do everything they can to try and keep him for another year as his experience is invaluable. He is now living in Pullough and there is plenty of local speculation about him finishing out his career with Erin Rovers, the club of his father, also Nigel. He was superb on Sunday, especially in the first half when he was so efficient and good on the ball, and he would be a great asset for Shamrocks next year.

They have other young players ready to emerge in the next few years and Shamrocks have plenty of potential. They can take great heart from Sunday's performance and they can dream once again. They also have to take it on the chin, get over it, move on and forget about looking for scapegoats. If a club can successfully appeal a result over a score being incorrectly awarded or not awarded by a referee, it would create carnage and there would be so many results contested – it would open a bottomless pit for the GAA.

There is a deeper issue underlying all this and it is one that every club in Offaly needs to address. No one in Shamrocks is seeking retribution from Shane O'Toole-Greene for not scoring that late goal or the players who caused the three man breach. And rightly so. O'Toole-Greene was a major factor in Shamrocks being so close to the win, every player played his heart out and these things are all part of the games. The last minute mistake is remembered, the fifth minute one forgotten but both can have an equal bearing on the result.

The same leeway is not given to referees and it is a major problem for Offaly GAA. There is an endemic of abuse of referees, linesmen and umpires going on and it has to stop. Not all of this abuse is in the form of referees being cursed at or their parentage questioned but it is equally as sinister – decisions regularly contested, officials being asked why they are applying a rule now and not before. Some of the observations may be made with polite language but they are equally as intimidating and perhaps even harder to deal with than the more vulgar methods of abuse that still crop up at games.

Referees have considerable power now. They can award a fourteen metre free for comments being made by a mentor or club official. Chris Dwyer was right to give Ferbane that second half free for whatever happened on the sideline that time, Bill Glennon gave St Rynagh's a fourteen metre free for comments from a Raheen member in the Intermediate Football Championship quarter-final a couple of weeks ago.

A thick skin and being able to turn a deaf ear to things is a mandatory requirement for anyone taking up refereeing. You will hear comments from the stand, there will be cruel things said online – some of the people making some of those comments do need to be called to account by their clubs and more reasonable supporters.

These things are outside the control of Offaly GAA but what happens at games, what players and officials say, can be dealt with – we had an incident at one game this weekend when a referee awarded a free to the opposition after a player was abused by one of his own team mates. That is fantastic to hear and referees have considerable power. The rules at their disposal are not being applied consistently at the moment and that is the first starting point for eradicating this curse.

The second then is the stance of the County Board, clubs and the wider GAA community. Make abuse unacceptable, punish the offenders and respect referees.

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And remember that respect is the minimum requiring. They deserve much more than that, they deserve true admiration for taking on one of the most difficult jobs in the GAA, even when they do have an off day – and Chris Dwyer has earned that, the same as the referees at the centre of other controversial games.