“We are maybe a bit too naive in Laois… “
Next time you are playing, or watching, a must-win game, keep an eye out for the player with an arm raised and looking for a rogue contact lens.
Mayo’s Aidan O’Shea attempts to replace his contact lens with assistance from Dr. Sean Moffatt in a 2013 NFL game. (Diarmuid Greene / SPORTSFILE)The big game of the recent GAA weekend saw Donegal reach the Ulster final and send Tyrone spinning into the football qualifiers. Tyrone were favourites to overcome Declan Bonner’s men but they were outclassed and outfought before eventually losing by four points.
Donegal led by six points, heading into time added on, but points from Darren McCurry and Richie Donnelly closed the game with time still remaining for their fans in Breffni Park to get nervous. It was then that there was a lens-related stoppage.
On The GAA Hour, host Colm Parkinson was joined by former Meath forward Cian Ward and Conan Doherty of SportsJOE to look back all on the action. The trio (from 10:00) discussed a major hold-up in injury time that slowed any momentum Mickey Harte’s side had mustered.
Padraic Harnan of Meath replaces a contact lens during a Leinster SFC Semi-Final match against Dublin in 2016. (Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile)In the closing stages of Donegal’s Ulster semi-final victory over Tyrone, goalkeeper Shaun Patton slowed everything down while he sought to locate and replace a contact lens.
Parkinson felt that the hold-up in play was a cute move by the Donegal stopper. “I liked the way Shaun Patton did the contact lens trick on 73 minutes when Tyrone were finally getting a run.
“There’s nothing anyone can really do in that moment. He has contacts. Now, I don’t believe for a second that his contact came out.
“[Former Offaly hurler] Brian Carroll talks about the contact lens trick. We are maybe a bit too naive in Laois. I haven’t tried that one.
“I have gone down faking an injury, but the referee can then tell you that you have to get up. But with a contact lens, you have to stop the game for it. That’s the brilliance of the contact lens trick.”
Ward says he was not aware of the trick either but does note how goalkeepers can ‘go down for anything’ and the referee must stop play as it would be impossible to continue without them.
“I’m looking forward to the first time a goalkeeper goes down,” he remarked, “and a referee says, ‘Someone else needs to take the kick-out or I’m throwing the ball up!”
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