By Séamás 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 on 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.”
In the full article Pearse Óg McCrickard has a strong message ahead of their fourth round match.
