The wild, wild west.
We hate giving out about referees. They have the most thankless job in the world don’t they?
You can never really win because even when you’re nailing your job, you’re invisible. You won’t get much praise for making a right call, except for the odd throwaway comment, ‘and the referee, he did a good job today, didn’t he?’
If you make a wrong call, or even the type of borderline call that pops up in every single game, you’ll be the most hated man on the pitch. And you’re just trying to do your bloody job.
Sometimes, though, it must be said that referees don’t help themselves, and that was exactly the case in the dying stages of the Galway IFC semi-final between Kilkerrin/Clonberne and Claregalway on Sunday.
It was the type of inexplicable blooper that we just can’t defend.
The two sides were evenly matched for 60 minutes of football in Tuam Stadium. There was nothing between them. It was so tight that every misplaced pass, every wide ball, any errant call from a referee would prove decisive.
Decisive it was.
The players knew what was at stake, the spectators, the managers, the referee knew there was a place for a county final up for grabs so it really was going to be unforgiving.
Galway star forward Shane Walsh lined up a 45 in the final minute of injury time. It might well have been the last kick in the game. The teams were level.
As far as he could see, this was going to be the last kick of the game, a kick that might inspire his club to Championship glory, that might bring them back to senior football ranks in Galway.
He was going to take his time over it, he was going to follow his free-taking routine. He was going to do everything possible to ensure he nailed it.
Walsh placed the ball on the ground, hoping to hit his tenth point of the day and ensure victory, and from there it took him 15 seconds to hit the ball.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
He nailed it. Straight over the black spot, but for some reason, the referee adjudicated that Walsh was time-wasting and called it back for the ball to be throw-in.
The final whistle was blown soon after and Kilkerrin/Clonberne were raging. You couldn’t blame them.
What was the referee’s logic there? It was a clueless call that has cost a team and a set of supporters dearly.
They have good reason to feel aggrieved.
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