Senior Hurling semi finals - 03/10/2010

[daingabu]

I agree the GAA needs to do something but unfortunately me or you cannot make sure it is introduced. If it is it has to be consistant in all games and not just the high profile games. The thing that really worries me and i have noticed it happen a number of times this year in particular is people coming in from the stand and terrace. There are children in our grounds and this is not safe and should be dealt with asap. Not safe for the players or officials either. I never said because he is a nice lad he should not get a ban. I dont know him either all i am saying is he was attempting to seperate a row and was in no way aggresive. To me that is not worthy of a ban. I have seen an awful lot worse that deserved bans including an incident in a previous Tullamore game with Brosna Gaels. The two lads were on the ground with Keane on the bottom. I stand by my opinion and blame the officials in this instance. This row should never have happened. Looking at the match Ger Healion was a disgrace to his club and county . They could have won this game if they had discipline but on the day they bet themselves

[daingabu]

Oh and in realtion to first man in sets the tone.... the tone was already set!!

[Lone Shark]

Oh and in realtion to first man in sets the tone.... the tone was already set!!

I agree there was tension and Cooke should have been in to break things up straight away, not let matters unfold as they did, but that doesn't change the fact that as we all know, there's no such thing as a three man row in the GAA. There's man on man, and then there's all hell breaking loose, and once a third man goes in, that's where you're headed. When that third man is not even a player, it makes matters even worse.

The sad thing is that if Martin was given a suspension, it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference, while Keane's absence is likely to play a part and that's just as much of an injustice. Again, if Cooke had been in quicker, he mightn't have had to send those two off.

The rule should apply across the board, as you say. But you have to start somewhere, and if it applies at the big games, it'll make it a lot easier to enforce and junior league matches and the like.

[Bord na Mona man]

People from the sideline or the stand have no business entering the playing area, unless in some sort of Force Majeure.
I think too many folks fancy themselves as the 16th man, patrolling the pitch from inside the lines, and itching to have some sort of influence.
From badgering match officials or trying to get involved with opposition players.

I think the linesmen at club matches, in Offaly and beyond, should clamp down on sideline heroes. If they aren't wearing boots and a jersey, you aren't in the game.

As for the 3rd man in. In the past, I've gone over and (impartially) separated a couple of players who were in a tangle, by levering them apart, so they can't reach each other. Job done? Not really. The 4th man in usually arrives and lamps you from behind. You might as well let them at it until they run out of steam.

[daingabu]

I agree Bord na Mona man. I hope that he learns from this and id say no doubt he has. It needs to be enforced but GAA need to have a plan!! No point in some getting punished and some getting away with it. Looking forward to the final now though. Coolderry very impressive but Tullamore have that heart. You just never know what way going to go now.

[arbarg]

I have to say , Im very disappointed with some of the comments here!!
how far have we fallen as supporters and lovers of the game that we nitpick at every incident, analysing and dissecting like a bunch of English football journos!! Looking for faults, baying for blood and begging for punishments.
Did Sean Martin really do that much wrong last Sunday that he should be given a "Hefty Ban"??
Agreed he entered the field of Play!! Agreed...according to the laws of the game he shouldnt have done that. All Sean done was try and seperate the two lads who were grappling with each other before things got out of hand which they evenytually did. All Sean done was try and break up the scuffle. Does this warrant a "hefty Ban"??? All he done was try and help his team mate, his friend and his neighbour. A lad he has played with for years and grew up with. What did you expect him to do?
i tell you, I was damn proud when I saw what Sean tried to do on sunday, it showed the measure of the man he is. Talk of Banning him for any length of time for simply trying to diffuse a volatile situation is a joke and stinks!
According to the laws of the Game he done the wrong thing, but which would ye all rather that everyone had stood back and let the two lads fight it out?

[Lone Shark]

which would ye all rather that everyone had stood back and let the two lads fight it out?

Yes. Absolutely. Two lads fighting it out would have been infinitely preferable to what we got, which was an all in ruckus that if it went even the slightest bit further, could have ended up in the day making the national papers for all the wrong reasons.

This isn't about nitpicking, and nobody's forgetting the hurling here. The universal response to that has been that Tullamore deserved their win and did so because they produced some great pressure scores and some first class defending when the game was on the line - they scored seven out of the last eight points, and whatever else happens in the county final, this Tullamore team have proved that they won't lie down.

The simple fact is that both Dunican and Keane knew what was going on there - neither man wanted to back down, but neither was either man drawing a blow. It was just handbags stuff that would have come to nothing if there was no third party intervention other than Declan Cooke. Instead we had an all in job. It's wrong to lose sight of that too.

[blues brother]

I agree with arbarg. We are totally getting away from hurling here. We should be previewing the final. Up the blues!!!

[Offaly2010]

Firstly, were there any Gardaí inside O’Connor Park?

There was indeed, POTH. I noticed two down at the electronic scoreboard end during the Coolderry - Kinnitty game.

[Bord na Mona man]

Firstly, were there any Gardaí inside O’Connor Park?

There was indeed, POTH. I noticed two down at the electronic scoreboard end during the Coolderry - Kinnitty game.

There was one at the shop behind the stand.

[Offaly2010]

[faithful till I die]

K/K only have themselves to blame. They tried to rough Tullamore up and intimidate them which was always going to backfire. Tullamore were the more disciplined and clinical team on the day and deserved to go through. There were saints and sinners on both sides and ultimately talking about who should have been sent off and who should get banned is distracting from the great achievement of the Tullamore hurling team. There are people on this site from K/K who are hurting from the loss and you can excuse a bit of sour grapes from them but there are others who are not and as far as I can see have a huge anti-Tullamore agenda and its getting very tiresome.

Lone Shark is the very man who wanted to avoid naming specific players on the Offaly panel who were not pulling their weight in training in the past but he has no problem in going all Eamonn Dunphy on it and calling for hefty bans on named Tullamore players. No doubt LS will have a perfectly good explanation but to be honest I have gone past caring as to why he is so anti the town. As I said earlier this is just a distraction from a great win to a team full of heart & pride which should be recognised as such. Maybe to distract was the point ?

[Lone Shark]

Lone Shark is the very man who wanted to avoid naming specific players on the Offaly panel who were not pulling their weight in training in the past but he has no problem in going all Eamonn Dunphy on it and calling for hefty bans on named Tullamore players. No doubt LS will have a perfectly good explanation but to be honest I have gone past caring as to why he is so anti the town. As I said earlier this is just a distraction from a great win to a team full of heart & pride which should be recognised as such. Maybe to distract was the point ?

There is a difference between public and private domain. Players' private lives should not be discussed on a public forum such as this, so yeah, I would wholeheartedly endorse the view that issues such as players drinking habits have no place on this forum. What a player does in OCP in front of thousands of supporters, particularly when it played such a huge part in heating up the atmosphere, is definitely something that can be talked about here. And yes, I would like to see all non-players who get involved on the field suspended. I've said the same thing in countless non-Tullamore games before, so it's nothing to do with the colour of the bib Shaun Martin was wearing.

As for the anti-Tullamore thing, I'm sick to death of beating this drum, but just for emphasis......

Tullamore’s ability to win tight, competitive knockout championship matches is second to none in either code and the hurlers must surely be full of confidence after beating Birr for the third successive year. Shane Dooley continues to hurl (and kick!) imperiously, while Brendan Dagg and Stephen Egan have been marshalling the defence extremely well.
..... in a match like this where a talented but inconsistent side comes up against county champions who are consistently hurling well in knockout ties, Tullamore are the more likely team to advance.

And since the match.......

This isn't about nitpicking, and nobody's forgetting the hurling here. The universal response to that has been that Tullamore deserved their win and did so because they produced some great pressure scores and some first class defending when the game was on the line - they scored seven out of the last eight points, and whatever else happens in the county final, this Tullamore team have proved that they won't lie down.

On the balance of play yesterday, Tullamore seemed to me to deserve the win. The shooting from both sides was pretty poor and of course there were several other issues with regard to individual behaviour and the refereeing, but I thought Tullamore kept their focus that bit better, they were happy to get stuck into the game without looking to cross the line usually, and they stood up and delivered some really big scores and some important interventions when the game was in the melting pot.

I also believe that if the game went on for another six or seven minutes, as it should have, Tullamore would have tacked on two or three more scores and won with a bit more to spare.

So no, I've no interest in distracting from what Tullamore achieved. It was seriously impressive. But then some people have difficulty getting rid of chips on their shoulder, so it might have been difficult to process all that.

[townman]

There's a reason the GAA needs to be strong on the third man rule. I agree completely that there are rows and scraps in club games the whole time featuring non-players - and it's a plague on games that needs to be dealt with. The rule is there and rightly so. And to be honest, no, I wouldn't come in off the line to deal with a row on the field between two lads. The two of them were going at each other and it's for themselves or the referee to sort it out. I didn't realise it was as one sided as you make out, it looked to me as if the two lads were going at each other, but that's neither here nor there anyway.

As for Shaun Martin's credentials, I've never met the lad but I would have no reason to doubt you. That's not what this is about. You decide to suspend a player or not suspend a player based on what he has done, not who he is and how popular he is.

thats alright if its between two lads but both clubs just pile in top of them and of course the thug with the Elvis hair do that ran in from the stand
the only good thing about it was that thick that ran in got a nice few slaps when he did go in he might think twice about it the next time

[Oceans 15]

There's a reason the GAA needs to be strong on the third man rule. I agree completely that there are rows and scraps in club games the whole time featuring non-players - and it's a plague on games that needs to be dealt with. The rule is there and rightly so. And to be honest, no, I wouldn't come in off the line to deal with a row on the field between two lads. The two of them were going at each other and it's for themselves or the referee to sort it out. I didn't realise it was as one sided as you make out, it looked to me as if the two lads were going at each other, but that's neither here nor there anyway.

As for Shaun Martin's credentials, I've never met the lad but I would have no reason to doubt you. That's not what this is about. You decide to suspend a player or not suspend a player based on what he has done, not who he is and how popular he is.

thats alright if its between two lads but both clubs just pile in top of them and of course the thug with the Elvis hair do that ran in from the stand
the only good thing about it was that thick that ran in got a nice few slaps when he did go in he might think twice about it the next time

I think the most important thing is that the ape that jumped the wall of the stand to get involved is banned from all GAA grounds for at least a year or maybe 2. I was sitting beside a man from KK who told me his name and said that the same fella had got sent off in an intermediate match the previous day and he wasn't even playing he was doing water boy!!!!