Paddy Neilan is lucky Tipperary don’t have more supporters judging by reaction to his performance

Who would be a referee, huh?

In an ideal world, every club contributes one whistler to the GAA ecosystem - that is how it should work. Some show more aptitude for officiating than others and end up making the Championship panel and get the chance to strut their stuff on the national stage. Not just anyone gets to be the man in the middle for intercounty football matches and with whatever prestige accrues, you are also a defendant in the court of public opinion. It would seem that Roscommon's Paddy Neilan managed to piss off both sets of fans in Thurles on Saturday evening as Armagh snuck past Tipperary on a scoreline of 1-17 to 1-15 in their Round 3B qualifier. A couple of Gardaí made their way on to the field at full-time, just in case the home support decided to take matters into their own hands, but no Garda escort was required. The Tipperary fans, like their manager Liam Kearns, kept control. Kearns was clearly furious when interviewed on RTÉ Radio after the match, but refused to say anything too inflammatory about Neilan. Others were not so kind. https://twitter.com/SportsJOE_GAA/status/886259528374865920 There were a few baffling decisions. In the first half Armagh's Gavin McParland had the ball in the net, only for Neilan to bring play back and give Armagh a free. If ever a passage of play was deserving of the advantage rule, it was Jamie Clarke's beautiful pick-up on the run and devastating diagonal ball to McParland. There was a similar [dis]advantage incident for Tipperary after the break, and the home side were furious when Stefan Campbell pointed in the final five minutes as they were convinced they were denied illegally at the other end. Neilan would do well to steer clear of Twitter (and the Square in Thurles) this evening. https://twitter.com/ConanDoherty/status/886278129425231872 https://twitter.com/conordoyle83/status/886282663467905026 https://twitter.com/cahilljackie/status/886276347693322240 https://twitter.com/ShaneSaint/status/886278275059912707 https://twitter.com/MichaelKane10/status/886278363937198080 https://twitter.com/BrendanBoylan/status/886277148230733824 https://twitter.com/JohnMickBrennan/status/886282550255247364 https://twitter.com/ConorGreally/status/886278447575830528 https://twitter.com/Brennan_PB/status/886280868985057284