They’ve had their say.
ScoreGate was the biggest story to come out of this year’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final between Tipperary and Kilkenny, which finished 4-20 to 0-30 to the Premier County.
The game was marred in controversy, with the official Croke Park scoreboard counting a late wide, with both sides believing that there was a four-point and then three-point difference between them going into and during added time.
This changed the tactics of both teams, with the Cats going after a goal and the Premier dropping deep to prevent one.
In the wake of the controversy the GAA released a statement.
They said: “The GAA can confirm that the official score at the end of the Tipperary v Kilkenny GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Semi-Final was 4-20 to 0-30. The GAA acknowledges there was confusion over the final score. The CCCC is awaiting the full referees report in order to establish how the initial mistake occurred.”
The incident quickly left the headlines, with Tipp hammering favourites Cork in the final two weeks later, but Kilkenny GAA have broken their silence on the matter, through county board chairman PJ Kenny.
Speaking on KCLR, Kenny was conscious at the time of not taking away the moment from Tipperary, but also admitted the extreme frustration felt by players, management, and fans.
He said: “There was communication that evening after the match. Obviously there was extreme frustration with the players, management and the county board and all the fans as well who paid to go to the match. There was deep frustration. We were in talks with Croke Park from the very start that evening. We knew and under no rule, it was never going to a replay.
“We didn’t want to broadcast it all over the front pages and we did talk to Croke Park regularly on the Sunday and Monday and we looked for an explanation. We were also conscious as well, Tipperary and Cork were in the All-Ireland final. There was no point in taking away from their… there was nothing to be gained that way but we were in talks.
“Croke Park took full responsibility. They wrote a letter which we actually read out at the county board meeting the week after that. They took full responsibility for what happened. They issued an apology, particularly they felt for the players and management and they’re probably the people who put in the most effort in it so it wasn’t an easy time.
“They say they’re looking at procedures going forward and we will enquire about them going forward – we won’t just let that go. We need to have that it won’t happen again because it was a very stressful time and look, when you’re playing and you’re chasing a lead, the scoreboard, it does affect your decision-making, it does affect your decision-making.”
