By Séamas McAleenan
DOWN manager Rónán Sheehan was feeling the frustration immediately after Saturday’s round three Joe McDonagh Cup tie in Ballycran, where his team got themselves into a winning position near the end but eventually lost by three points.
“We lost that game because of a blatant square ball goal. Everyone in the pitch could see it was a square ball,” Sheehan raged. He went on to say he believed it wasn’t a “fair” refereeing performance.
“Carlow also got ten scoreable frees to our three. In a game that is going down to the wire, you have to ask questions about those. In my book, that’s not acceptable. People in Croke Park might say I am wrong in saying that, but ultimately that wasn’t a fair refereeing performance. Anyone here today could see that they were getting frees from similar situations where we weren’t.
“Refereeing is a difficult job, but you have to be consistent in a game, and it’s unfortunate when officials let you down. The players and management put so much work into it and then are let down at key moments. You could look at the incident earlier in the second half when a Carlow player drove the forearm into one of our players (Liam Savage) and still won a free, while our player had to leave the field.
“We (players and management) review our performance each day, look to improve on things that we didn’t do well. There also needs to be a review of referee performances as well.”
The Down manager went on to praise his players for their performance in Ballycran. “I am very proud of the boys. They put in a real effort and we knew that performance was in us today. Carlow got a rather fortuitous goal just before half-time while we missed maybe a better chance with Daithí (Sands) up at the far end.
“That goal gave them a bit of a cushion. Then they got a second goal that we were disappointed to concede. But we fought back brilliantly and it looked as if we were going to kick on when we got ahead. We felt that we were on top until that square ball goal changed the game.”
Sheehan was particularly pleased that Tim Prenter, returning from a hamstring injury, played for an hour. “We took him off near the end because we are trying to mind him. He had a very good game; we’re very happy with that. Very happy too with Cahal Coleman’s contribution. A very young player. Caolán Taggart was outstanding. Look, I couldn’t fault any of the boys. I thought they were all brilliant. They showed that they were able to compete at the top level of the Joe McDonagh Cup. I’m just very disappointed that they lose out on those kinds of decisions.”
In the full article Pearse Óg McCrickard has a rallying cry for his team mates.
