Birr vs Ballyboden St. Enda's

[Offalys Future]

Watched it about 10 times but really hard to see it. Looks like watkins jumped in air and striked ball backwards. But no way a umpire could have really seen it, happened so quick and ballyboden players hurl was very close.

[Plain of the Herbs]

I watched it a number of times. It’s difficult to tell as, while the Ballyboden forward had a new hurl, Watkins had an older one and you can’t make out if the ball struck Watkins’ hurl in the darkness. Macdara MacDonnacha was convinced it hit Watkins’ hurl on the way out.

Time was up anyway as it happened on 62:05 and the referee was under no obligation to allow the ‘65’, if awarded.

What was the replay of the '65' that wasn't given at the very end like?

I heard Humphrey Kelleher on Newstalk yesterday evening complain about Birr’s fifth point, claiming it was three feet wide.

At the time I felt it was a very close call, perhaps even over the post? Obviously the TV cameras don’t tell us (as they are on the hospital side of the ground). However, it’s clear that the umpire on that post was well positioned and gave the nod to his colleague to put up the flag. Interestingly, the goalkeeper didn’t protest, facing back outfield to shout at his defender instead!

What an amazing piece of skill by Brian Whelahan for the Birr goal. I thought at the time he would have had one hand on the hurl when he tapped the ball across to O’Meara. In actual fact he struck it two-handed which would have been very difficult to execute. Sublime.

[Bord na Mona man]

I heard Humphrey Kelleher on Newstalk yesterday evening complain about Birr’s fifth point, claiming it was three feet wide.

At the time I felt it was a very close call, perhaps even over the post? Obviously the TV cameras don’t tell us (as they are on the hospital side of the ground). However, it’s clear that the umpire on that post was well positioned and gave the nod to his colleague to put up the flag. Interestingly, the goalkeeper didn’t protest, facing back outfield to shout at his defender instead!

Also the linesman was right behind the flight of the ball and didn't betray any hint that the score was wide.
If Kelleher thinks it was 3 feet wide, he is hardly being objective!

[Plain of the Herbs]

We had this debate before the start yesterday. Would you have played wih or against the wind in the first half if ye were captain of either side yesterday?

Personally I'd always prefer to have the wind in my favour in the second half when the oter team have 'posted their innings' so-to-speak, and you know what your target is. Also, the team who has first use of the wind may take a while to settle into the game. Many's a team found themselves level at 0-2 each after fifteen minutes when backed by a wind such as yesterday's. Just said I'd throw in open to the forum.

[Offalys Future]

I think every team and every game is different.
Take yesterday as an example, Ballyboden while they would have been confident coming down, there still would have been doubt in their minds whether really they could win this game.
If they had the wind and really went for it in the first half it can be argued but they would have been at least 6 points up at the break. Instead they went in behind with a mountain to climb which they nearly did. But Birr had the experience and that stood to them in the second half especially the last ten minutes.

I would probably take the wind all the time.

[Bord na Mona man]

The downsides of having the breeze in the second half.
- The opposition can slow down the second half with substitutions and cramp treatment.
You can't realistically do this in the first half.

- The wind could die down.

- It takes a lot of discipline to go chasing a target without trying too hard.
Teams can go chasing too much, too early and lose their composure.
i.e. start going for goals, taking pot shots, piling forward and leaving gaps.
It takes a lot of discipline to reel in 7 or 8 points over 20 minutes.

- So often happens is that as a team draws within one point, or level, there is a premature feeling of accomplishment and they ease off again. For me, a big part of the comeback is the psychological dam burst of actually taking the lead. Many's a great comeback falters just at this point.

[Over The Black Spot]

We had this debate before the start yesterday. Would you have played wih or against the wind in the first half if ye were captain of either side yesterday?

Personally I'd always prefer to have the wind in my favour in the second half when the oter team have 'posted their innings' so-to-speak, and you know what your target is. Also, the team who has first use of the wind may take a while to settle into the game. Many's a team found themselves level at 0-2 each after fifteen minutes when backed by a wind such as yesterday's. Just said I'd throw in open to the forum.

Really depends on the team, Birr had the necessary class to respond with scores when the chips were down late on whereas not all teams would. The Munster final was very strange in that Loughmore hurled with a storm in the first half, went in only a point up, went behind in the second half & came back to win.

Personally, I would always say it's nice to have the breeze at your back if you're looking for a score late on but you have to have the mental strenght to stay plugging away in the first half when the tide may be against you or you may find yourself out of the game.

Re Humphry Kelleher, I have always found him to be a whingy fecker. I was at the game & while it looked wide & it's harsh to lose out because a fella who's only there to see if a ball passes between two uprights can't perform that most basic of tasks, I didn't hear him pipe up about how Keaney rolled over every time someone challenged him giving Curtin tap over frees for nothing. These were also scores that shouldn't have been.

Watched the last play a few times, Watkins definitely put the ball out of play & it was very close to the umpire, no excuses, should have spotted it.

Well done Birr.

[Lone Shark]

A classic case of Birr doing what they had to do to win. Hopefully they'll manage to do the same against Dunloy and we'll all have a team to cheer on in March.


I wasn't unduly impressed with them yesterday, but on the other hand I didn't expect to be. It's very hard to follow up a momentous result and a near-perfect performance with another from the same vein, and it was similar to the county final in that it fell back onto Sid to carry the day and prove the difference between the teams. I agree with the praise on the Birr full back line, but I can't help but be concerned how Gary Hanniffy in particular is so streaky at this level. All that said, if they can eke past Dunloy, they'll be in great shape going into a final. Well done for now anyway - that Ballyboden team was very decent, and they deserved to get this far.

As fo the contentious points, I do think Birr were on the lucky side. Only watching on TV meant that I couldn't tell you about the point, but having looked at the replay I was fairly sure it was a 65 - but that just balanced up some of the soft frees that were mentioned above. However the injury time was a disgrace. Since I was looking at delayed coverage, I knew it was likely to be an issue, so I was keeping an eye on all the time Mullins was messing around, as well as player stoppages. There should have been at least four minutes injury time, and probably five. It was poor refereeing to fall for this. I hate this tactic for two easons - it's not good sportsmanship to begin with, but more so because it encourages stop start games. If teams think that they'll get away with this, they'll do it all the more. I know of one ref who looks after hurling matches in Galway and I was talking to him about this, and he said he always does the same thing on a windy day - he tells each team before they go out that he knows it's coming, and for every thirty seconds of what he feels is needless delay, he'll add on a minute. It probably isn't perfectly legal, but it works.

Having said all that, I'd be old school with regard to the wind - always take it. My thinking would be along the following lines:

(1) In a first half, teams will keep playing as normal - the team defending (so to speak) will just play as normal and then try to retrieve the deficit. If you know that you've had a good first half with the wind, it increases your options - you can sit right back and defend, knowing that you'll barely need a score or two as long as you don't concede a huge amount.

(2) The fear of losing the breeze would be very real. Often happens.

(3) Tulla yesterday were a perfect example of BnaM man's point about teams freezing once they got in front. Tulla had that game in their grasp and they froze.

(4) Refs should do like the above and kill time wasting tactics, but they don't, as a rule.

I take your point about the settling in, and again the Munster game seemed to be a geat example of that, but more often the scoring comes easiest in the latter part of the first half as opposed to any other part of the game.

[Biffo Army]

Lads am I the only one that noticed the incident in the second half when Mullins pucked out the ball, the two umpires immediately raised their hands! I felt myself it was to draw the ref's attention to the fact that Mullins was well outside the small square, thus awarding Ballyboden a 65'! One of them wimped out of making the call, but the guy on the stand side perservered for a while longer, but was unable to get the ref's attention as the ball was up the far end of the field. In the end he gave up too, but just curious if anyone else noticed this???

[Efan]

A great win for Birr and I thought on the balance of play they deserved it. They made better use of the wind when they had it, created 4 goal scoring opportunities to Ballybodens none, created more and when they were really under the cosh dug deep to press the 3 points up in the second half to give them the space to see out the game.

Thought the scored one point that looked dodgy, were not given one that looked over, could have had a 65 called late doors but then the line ball in looked like it should have gone to Birr not Bally Boden. Its sport these things have a habit of evening themselves out. When it came to creativity Birr were the better team and this ultimately was what saw them home.

Delighted for Sid in the twilight of his career to still be having an impact but happily since the county Final the other players around him have really stepped up and his role has not been as signifigant. I hope that Birr can overcome Dunloy as to see him on the big stage on St. Patricks day would be fantastic. As Pat Teehan put it when he presented him with the Sean Robbins Cup "Probably the best hurler we all have seen play the game".

Incidentally on the incident with Brian Mullins stepping outside the small square and the umpire raising his had for a 65 ..... saw it happen but he eventually got tired and lowered his hand. Happily Bally Boden got the next score as Sig missed his 21 yard free to the right so it did not alter the scoring sequence. It does make you wonder however how hard is it to give the umpire a divise similar to the lines man's flag to gets the refs attention. Mind you I wont have a bad word said about that umpire!!

[Plain of the Herbs]

I've watched that incident on television again. Mullins stepped two yards outside the small square when pucking out into the gale (in fact he was on the line when he threw up the ball to hit it) and the umpires raised their hands.

If I was doing umpire in conditions like that I'd be lenient with the goalkeeper pucking into the wind (within reason) but I'd be much more exact with the fella who has the aid of the wind. I thought the umpires were mean-spirited on that occasion and not because it was the Offalyman who was the goalkeeper in question.

Lads am I the only one that noticed the incident in the second half when Mullins pucked out the ball, the two umpires immediately raised their hands! I felt myself it was to draw the ref's attention to the fact that Mullins was well outside the small square, thus awarding Ballyboden a 65'! One of them wimped out of making the call, but the guy on the stand side perservered for a while longer, but was unable to get the ref's attention as the ball was up the far end of the field. In the end he gave up too, but just curious if anyone else noticed this???