It’s a case of looking back and looking forward in Tuesday’s Hospital Pass, as we consider the contrasting treatment of Diarmuid Connolly and Tommy Walsh.
It seems Brian Gavin, the bloody-nosed Offaly referee who took charge of Sunday’s hurling final, has had a chance to review the incident on television.
Now, we don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but we thought there might have been a chance, however slim, for a bit of retroactive disciplinary measures.
Like, Tommy swung a hurl in anger and it drew blood. From the referee.
Now, accidentally bringing an end to successive clauses with the same four words, if Lar Corbett had been on the end of it, you’d never hear the end of it.
Tommy would have been hauled before every judge and jury in the land – well, Joe Duffy anyway – to answer charges of Actual Bodily Harm, Grievous Bodily Harm and Knowingly Cracking A Reigning Hurler of the Year Across the Nose with a Hurley.
But Knowingly Cracking A Referee Across the Nose with a Hurley doesn’t seem to be a felony of any sort and fair play to Brian Gavin, he’s still taking it all in good spirits.
“If I had seen who had done it, he was in trouble,” he laughed.
Laughed? And what followed was also scarcely believable – he’s putting the flake down as an accident.
“It was an accident. It was one of those things that happened. Lads are holding lads’ arms and lads’ hurls. I know everyone is saying it’s a high hurl, but he was trying to break away and these things happen, especially with the slapping back of the hurl. It was a pure accident and, really, you couldn’t do anything about it.”
Nothing at all. Except not swing a hurley in anger in the first place, maybe.
DiCo back in action
Dublin’s hopes of bringing an end to 16 years of frustration were given a boost overnight when Diarmuid Connolly, or DiCo, to give him the west-coast-rap-style nickname we’ve just made up, got off scot-free for his shameful feeble-push-to-the-upper-chest-area assault on Donegal’s Marty Boyle last week.
DiCo had been rightly red-carded for his actions on the day, which left Boyle with a bad case of injured pride and lingering embarrassment that he had been caught diving in front of a live and televised audience of around a million people.
Now, however, the CCCC of the GAA – or maybe it was the DRA? Or CAS? – have overturned the action taken by match referee Maurice Deegan and rescinded the red card.
It’s disgraceful. We can tell you something for nothing: it wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t a Dub.
