In today’s Hospital Pass, no censure for the referee whose verbals made the Monaghan footballers blanche, and the World War I mentality at play in Cavan.
It seems that referee Cormac Reilly has got away with turfing a bit of guff the way of the Monaghan players during the recent Ulster semi-final against Tyrone.
Reilly clearly offended the benevolent, nay monk-like, dispositions of the Monaghan men during the game, which they lost by two points after a couple of incendiary decisions from the Meath whistler, which included two red cards for Monaghan players and a penalty missed by Tyrone’s long-stockinged style icon Martin Penrose
But it wasn’t so much the sendings-off or the penalty which annoyed Monaghan’s play-‘im-anywhere shrinking violet Darren Hughes. It was something the ref apparently said to him during the match.
“I’ll not repeat what he said to me in the first half, but referees shouldn’t be saying that,” said Hughes at the time, doing little more than piquing our curiosity about what foul-mouthed outburst the referee could have come up with to so offend an inter-county footballer.
Still, it makes a nice change, doesn’t it? Refs have been on the wrong end of the verbals for too long. And it’s all’s well that ends well for Reilly, as referees’ chief Michael Curley insists that no disciplinary action will be taken.
World War I
Staying in that part of the world, it seems that, in the spirit of World War I Britain, virtually every able-bodied man over the age of 18 in Cavan has played for the county team at some point.
The Anglo-Celt reports this week that 67 players have made their Championship debuts for the Breffni men in little over a decade.
In the age-old GAA tradition, it seems there were years when it was harder to get off the Cavan team than get on it, which goes some way towards explaining their inexorable slip down the rankings since their last provincial championship success in 1997.
They were dumped out of Ulster in a one-sided contest against Donegal last weekend but 2011 isn’t over yet for Cavan.
In all likelihood, though, it probably will be on Saturday week, when they take on a Longford side which should be in decent heart following its Division 4 league success a couple of months back.
That one’s at Breffni too, and the way things are going, if you’re seen lurking around Cavan town with a pair of boots in your hand, there’s every chance you’ll be handed a jersey.
