Galway fans would be livid if Adrian Tuohy got suspended for the All-Ireland final, and you can’t blame them for that.
The Sunday Game team rose the issue of the Beagh club man’s supposed indiscretion during the second half of their All-Ireland semi-final triumph against Tipperary.
The faceguard rule, which according to the GAA rulebook includes “behaving in any way which is dangerous to an opponent, including deliberately pulling on or taking hold of a faceguard or any part of an opponent’s helmet (in hurling).”
Tadhg De Búrca was cited for this category III infraction for his incident with Wexford’s Harry Kehoe in Waterford’s All-Ireland semi-final.
The case against De Búrca was very unclear due to the poor camera angles of the incident, but the fact that the supposed victim, Kehoe, vouched for him in his appeal process tells you everything.
De Búrca now looks set to miss out on Waterford’s clash with Cork due to the ruling – and it’s a bit of a joke.
Waterford’s Stephen Bennett was suspended for a match under this ruling earlier on in the year and it was thoroughly deserved.
Bennett pulled his opponents faceguard agressively, and dangerously.
These cases all should be analysed individually, instead of under one broad ruling, because they are all very different to each other.
Adrian Tuohy’s supposed indiscretion was in no way similar to Bennett’s. It didn’t look malicious.
Touhy’s hand went back to Bonner Maher’s head when he was running to mop up a ball. As happens in our games, your arms are flailing, you’re doing everything in your power to win a ball.
It didn’t look like he did it on purpose.
Ger Loughnane claimed it wasn’t deliberate.
“The hand comes back, he pulls the helmet and it’s interference with a helmet. Now the big problem is, you know, what happened with Tadhg de Búrca, and that word ‘deliberate,'”
“Now is that deliberate? that’s the big question,” asked Loughnane
“Bonner didn’t make a big scene today even though he had to go off to replace the helmet. I think it’s ridiculous…Are they deliberately dangerous? I don’t think so.”
Brendan Cummins had his say and he feels Tuohy will have a worrying few days.
“The precedent has been set (by Tadhg De Búrca case) If this stops Tadhg de Búrca no more than Adrian Touhy from playing, it’s a real real tough one for players. It’s going to be a bit of a sweat for Adrian Tuohy in the coming days.
'The precedent has been set' – The panel discuss the removal of Bonnar Maher's helmet by Galway's Adrian Tuohy pic.twitter.com/cwPwPvZK9j
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) August 6, 2017
Jackie Tyrell claimed that Tuohy was innocent because he wasn’t facing Maher, his actions could have been out of his own control.
“It’s a big grey area, because Adrian Tuohy was facing away from Bonner Maher. If he was facing Bonner Maher he’d be able to see and you’d know exactly, ‘yeah, that’s deliberate interference.'”
Common sense should apply here.
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