How Did He Miss That?
13/07/10
Leinster final: Meath 1-12 – Louth 1-10
Another Leinster final finished, another day of high drama and tension. Timing Ireland were at Croke Park to operate the video wall and we sure had a great match to watch. Trying to mix feeds from TV companies with the action on the pitch is hard enough without the controversy created by referee Martin Sludden and his umpires down the canal end making matters more difficult.
Overall Louth deserved the win. It was their first final in over 50 years so anticipation levels were high in the Wee County. They really did put it up to the Royals overcoming a three point deficit at half time to lead by a point going into the closing stages. When a high ball was floated into the box with only seconds remaining everyone knew there was more drama yet to happen. I doubt many would have predicted what happened next though with a frenetic goal mouth scramble which resulted in Meath forward Joe Sheridan bundling the ball over the line. Even from our position at the opposite end of the stadium we could see that the goal should not have stood.
The best part of sport is the unknown human element. A defender slips allowing a forward a clear route to goal or a midfielder executes an amazing cross field pass. We all watch sport for the excitement it gives us and for the possibility of seeing something we haven’t seen in years (or 53 years for Louth fans to be exact). What we can’t really accept is a blatant error from the referees. On the one hand I feel sorry for Mr. Sludden. Unlike in soccer, referees do not get paid for their services so only do it for a pure love of the game, something which we all have to admire but seriously how did he miss Joe Sheridan rolling over the line. The referee seemed unwilling to even consult his umpire until berated by Louth players and even then it wasn’t more than a two sentence conversation. A question that must be raised from this game and indeed from the soccer World Cup is whether a greater amount of technology should be introduced to remove the human element of refereeing so that games will become fairer. Should goal line technology be introduced to Gaelic to help referees make better decisions? Maybe not but there has to be an examination of whether the current set up is beneficial to all parties.
Finally the treatment of the referee by some small sections of Louth supporters was unacceptable. Everyone gets annoyed when their team loses at the hands of a referee’s mistake but violence towards officials cannot be tolerated at any level. Unfortunately the end of the match marred an otherwise excellent day. We will be back soon enough to operate the video wall at Croke Park. Meath march on to the next round while Louth go into the qualifiers.
Until next time.
*Timing Ireland operates and maintains the video wall at Croke Park. You can also find us at www.timingireland.ie and on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn*
