THE MAN BEHIND THE WIRE: Referee not the reason Offaly U-20 hurlers went down in All Ireland Final

THERE has been considerable anger in Offaly over the performance of referee Chris Mooney in Sunday's All-Ireland U-20 Hurling Championship final defeat by Cork but two things need to be nailed to the mast:

1 – the referee did fail in his duty when he didn't send off Cork full back, Shane Kingston in the 11th minute for a dangerously high elbow on a raiding Cormac Egan;

2 – that incident or the refereeing performance was not the reason Offaly lost and to over focus on the display of Chris Mooney, as some people have been doing, is not helpful.

Offaly players and supporters are entitled to be annoyed. Apart from a few incidents, Chris Mooney actually had quite a good game and there was no issue with his refereeing of 98% of the final. There were a couple of questionable calls here and there, frees given and not given, but these balanced out and were not the reason either side won or lost.

The annoyance in Offaly is fuelled by a belief that Cork targeted Offaly, went out to rough up their lighter skilful team and were let away with it by the referee; that their players were not offered appropriate protection.

There is no doubt that Cork went out to hit Offaly hard, to test the mettle of some of their younger, skilful players. Adam Screeney, a young man whose name is growing far beyond county boundaries, was certainly targeted for special treatment.

Kingston rattled into him in the first minute and should have got a yellow card at that stage. If you are to shake an opponent, to test the lines, the first minute is certainly the time to do it and Kingston probably got the benefit of the doubt from that.

However, his tackle on Cormac Egan in the 11th minute was dreadful. He raised his elbow dangerously high as the Tullamore flier tried to manufacture a shot on goal and he could have hurt him. Egan then got a belt in the chest as he went out the field after the penalty was awarded while he shipped another heavy hit before the interval, resulting in him being taken off at half time.

The penalty incident, however, left a sour taste in Offaly's mouths. The referee didn't have the benefit of a second viewing when he made his call and many supporters were able to look at it again before taking to various social media forums to express their disgust.

However, he got that one very wrong. It was a disgraceful hit by Kingston, his elbow certainly came up to head high as Egan ran at goals and it was a red card every day of every week. The referee also spoke to his umpires before brandishing yellow and you would just wonder about it all. Even allowing for the possibility that it may not have looked as bad in the moment as it did when looked at a second time or that he didn't have a clear view, Kingston should have been walking for his second yellow at that stage.

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There were a couple of other very borderline challenges by Cork but Offaly supporters need to quickly move away from talking about the referee. It was wrong, it shouldn't have happened but that's it and the GAA have a mechanism for assessing and appointing referees. Leave them to do their job now.

Take a leaf out of the book of Offaly GAA chairman Michael Duignan, who got the message exactly right when he posted a reflection on Facebook on Monday, writing:

“Where to start.

“What a wonderful day to be an Offaly person yesterday. We are a small County but in my opinion we are unique when it comes to GAA.

“Thurles yesterday was simply unbelievable. The colour, excitement, passion and outrageous pride in our team was something special to behold.

“A massive thank you to everyone for your unfaltering support.

“Congratulations to an excellent Cork team on their victory.

“Hard luck to our superb young team and to our adopted son Leo & his management team who have given us such great days over the last couple of years. The lads gave it everything yesterday and played with great heart and skill and never gave up till the final whistle. The pride is back in the Offaly jersey! Thanks lads. Uibh Fhailí Abu.”

The former Offaly star has a high profile as an RTE analyst and has no problem calling referees or anyone else out. He doesn't suffer fools gladly and he made no bones about expressing his annoyance at the referee after a controversial late goal denied Offaly victory in the All-Ireland minor hurling final last year.

This time, he resisted any temptation to have a public go at Mooney and that was the right thing to do. You can bet your bottom dollar that Michael Duignan was not happy with the referee but he got his message exactly right, focusing on the positives of a magical team and a magical day in Thurles – one of those rare GAA occasions with 10,000 Offaly fans making up the bulk of the near 30,000 crowd and creating a never to be forgotten atmoshere.

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In any event, manager Leo O'Connor had addressed the refereeing display when he spoke shortly after the final whistle. The Limerick said all that needed to be said as he talked about the cynical nature of some of Cork's hurling and the decisions not given. There was no need for Michael Duignan to add fuel to that fire as Leo O'Connor had it more than covered.

Even in defeat, it was a great Offaly GAA occasion. Observers from Cork; from Galway and Clare who played in the preceding All-Ireland minor hurling final and from the host county, Tipperary as well as a wide television audience were just blown away by the whole Offaly GAA response to the team. It was a symptom of the massive hunger in Offaly for success but it was also a sign of the affection, respect and admiration people have for a young group of players who have brought such pride to their county, lifted hurling and allowed their people to dream and believe that big days can happen once again.

It was impossible not to be moved by the crescendo of noise that greeted the arrival of the Offaly team out onto the field and every score and free won in the first half. Full marks also to the Offaly supporters who also behaved impeccably with only a handful booing Ben Cunningham as he prepared to strike frees – this was something that had rightly annoyed long standing Offaly supporters in other hurling games this year.

Duignan's post touched all the right buttons; it perfectly got across the enormity of what happened in Thurles on Sunday, what it meant to the county; and it didn't go into the negative of talking about a referee.

To do so for a second successive year would have smacked of sour grapes and would not have given the right message to the players or supporters. It would allow them to avoid discussing the many other reasons that Offaly lost the game and it would have diminished the excitement and passion that was witnessed in Thurles.

The bottom line is that Cork were the better team on the day and by a considerable distance. Even if everything went right for Offaly; if Kingston had walked, if two very preventable goals had not been conceded; if Cormac Egan had got a 14th minute goal; it is likely that Cork would still have found a way to win.

They are further advanced than Offaly in their physical development at the moment and it was always possible that this would tell the tale. It is why Offaly people are annoyed at the referee but it is also way deeper than this. Cork's physical edge was always likely to be a factor in this final and it couldn't be any other way. Almost all of their team were in their last year at U-20 while just six of Offaly's starters are overage next year – Mark Troy, Luke Watkins, Sam Bourke, Cathal King, Cormac Egan and Charlie Mitchell – and several are doing their Leaving Certificate this year.

Cork had a decisive edge in power and physicality, apart from the rougher elements that did diminish their win. They were able to break tackles and they were able to stop Offaly from doing the same. Offaly competed brilliantly in the first half and there was great excitement as a victory looked possible but by half time, the warning lights were flashing.

They had scored five of the last six points to lead by 1-11 to 1-9 at half time. It was still there for Offaly but Cork then scored 1-6 without reply at the start of the second half to lead by 2-17 to 1-9. Between the 24th and the 38th minutes, Cork outscored Offaly by 1-11 to 0-1 and that is when the game was won and lost – an extra man would have made a difference but Offaly would still have found it very hard to stop Cork once they got into top gear.

That had nothing to do with the referee, it is where Offaly must learn their lessons and where they have the work to do. Most of this group have the potential to win an All-Ireland in the next two years but they need to get their physique and power up close to where this Cork team were.

RTE analysts Brendan Cummins and Shane Dowling were right when they spoke about this on Sunday evening, notwithstanding their abject failure to discuss a couple of the big refereeing calls. They talked about the type of hurling that is played in Munster and what a lighter team like Offaly needs to do. That work can't be at the expense of their skill and pace but there is a balance to be reached and this is the challenge for Offaly management and players in the next two years.

As Cummins and Dowling correctly said on RTE, Cork were more like a senior team on Sunday, Offaly closer to a minor. It had to be that way with the age difference between both starting fifteens but this is where the game was really won and lost; and this is what Offaly's focus needs to be on now and not on the referee.