Ger Loughnane and the Jimmy Cooney incident

[Bord na Mona man]

I didn't see this one, but heard about it today. Loughnane was on Sunday Sport last night talking about the 1998 'early whistle' match between Offaly and Clare.

Apparently Loughnane claimed that Cooney blew it up early because he couldn't let Offaly to win having not red carded Michael Duignan earlier in the match. Supposedly he said that Cooney's admission of making a mistake with the early whistle was not the truth.

Did anyone hear him?

[Lone Shark]

Heard him all right. It was classic old school Loughnane, conspiracy theories abounding.

He mentioned the Duignan thing all right, but it just sounded stupid when they put it straight in after Cooney explaining the whole 30 vs 35 minutes thing which was why he blew up early.

He started giving out about the replay then, saying they only "agreed" because they thought they were going to get Colin Lynch back. This conveniently ignored the fact that the rules were unambiguous - there had to be a replay.

He was very gracious at the time, I've no idea why he'd go and make a monkey of himself by being bitter now.

[Bord na Mona man]

Whatever about Lynch, the understanding was that Clare would burn Offaly's old men on the bigger Thurles pitch. That's probably why Clare didn't seem to kick up much of a fuss at the time.

It's old news now. Clare were unlucky, though the hurling world didn't seem overly sympathetic for them - Such was the ill-feeling towards them at the time.
It's laughable how some Clare people think that they "offered" Offaly the refixture.

[HairyHole]

The one thing that always annoyed me about that game was the shite talk from the banner supporters afterwards that they were guaranteed a point there when Cooney blew it up . As can be clearly seen from the footage last night , the Clare forward (Alan Markham I think it was ) had the ball alright but he was about a foot in from the sideline/14 yard line on the hoganstand side . Now it would have been some point if he'd scored it with Martin Hanamy dragging at his heels...

[Bord na Mona man]

Barry Murphy was the forward, and a very windy one at that. A few minutes earlier he'd missed a simple one in front of the posts. He was bearing down on the corner flag quicker than he was bearing down on goal. Christy Ring at his peak wouldn't expect to score from such an angle!

Also while Clare fans complain about Duignan and Pilkington's fouls, I think Pilkington had every reason to be frustrated. Niall Gilligan was furiously flaking him "Noel Hickey" style into the back as he was through on goal. Nowhere near the ball or his hurl. If Pilkington lashing out at him warranted sending off, then so did Gilligan's dirty belts.

[HairyHole]

Aye !

And whilst we're going down the road of finger pointing , what about "Fingers" O Connell" blatent pulling twice across Sid's midrift in the first half of the 95 All Ireland . It twas the worst case of trying to take a player out of a game I'd ever seen . I know it was a horrible thing to say and there is no place for it in the game but I for one wasn't too upset with Duignans actions in 98....

[Loughers]

I always hated Tipp, being from Birr, but I truly detest Clare. Loughnane is an imbicile and his latest rant is doing him no favours. Daly is a bully, and his "tactics" against Cody and McCarthy are not what hurling is about. As for flakes, what about the one that Brendan Murphy got in Limerick last year. If ye remember, he had his head down, and his hand held out to shake his opponent when yer man flaked across his legs. This before the match had even started. 10 years back, and up there with the most despised in the country.

[Bord na Mona man]

And we haven't mentioned Gerry Quinn yet.

[Lone Shark]

I think Ger Loughnane has created a monster that will never be truly slain in that county.

Unlike Dermot Healy, who came to Offaly and imbued belief that our lads could match the best in the country for hurling, and that taking the field with a 3lb lump of ash didn't make you a better hurler. If anything it's gone too far, because we have a generation of hurlers now that generally doesn't like physical hurling, and gets intimidated too easily, but that's another story...

Loughnane created the philosophy of "We'll beat you because we've run up more mountains than you, and we'll do whatever it takes to win where you'll hold back". It only functioned when everyone takes the field with some real or perceived chip on their shoulder regarding their opponents, fired up to run through walls. The foul strokes were a natural extension of "By any means necessary".

The legacy now though will last. You would assume that the main players of the mid nineties will slip into club management, and between them make up the next decade or so of Clare intercounty managers. All of these learned that this was the way to win and will carry on the philosophy. And then you have the Clare players of the next 10 or fifteen years, which will all be kids from the terraces who grew up worshipping the fine-line tactics that their heroes have walked. And lets face it, kids will idolise enforcers too. We had Johnny Dooley, they had Colin Lynch. We had Whelahan, they had Daly. We had Troy, they had Jamesie. We had Pilkington, they had Baker.

While it's great to see someone outside the Holy Trinity make an impact, unfortunately I think the style of Clare hurling for the next twenty years is already determined. The tabloids will love it, but it will not be for the purist.

Hurling needs a mercurial Offaly to rise again.

[the bare biffo]

The most "memorable" bit of flaking I've seen has to be Daithi Regan and Andy Comerford going hell for leather in Croker.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Regarding Regan and Comerford. I still don't know how Pat IO'Connor singled out Regan for the red card. Surely there was two . . .

While on the subject of flaking, I recall 3 Offaly forwards having Clare hurls wrapped around them at the precise moment the referee threw in the ball. I was a long way away, the sun was in me eyes, and all six Offaly forwards were wearing Black helmets with faceguards, and in typical Mike Mac fashion weren't lined up 10-15, so I couldn't identify them.
Didn't Murph start full forward? I wonder who was full back.

As for Clare 1998. I remember speaking to Clare people in the week leading up to the first game. The rreply I got to "are ye going up Sunday?" was "Aaah, no, but we're going to the final though". Jimmy Cooney's performance the first day was best summed up by my Cork boss at that time the said to me the next day "Theres no doubt about it, but Jimmy Cooney was Clare's best player" Any opinions on how he didn't give John Ryan a free when rugby-tackled by Seanie McMahon are welcome.

It was only last night I realised just how far from goal Barry Murphy was. The Clare people, God bless them, still think he was bearing down on goal. The only goal he was bearing down on was the one on the Hogan sideline used for the mini-sevens.
And the Clare argument crying for the Kerry & Kildare hurlers who were denied their game in Croker doesn't wash. They got to hurl in headquarters 8 days later, prior to the minor semi final preceding the AI SF between Kerry & Kildare.

Was it on the second day, or in Thurles that Joe Errity contested that ball with Lohan, and Errity pulled and yer man's red helmet flew about 10 yards? That was the day that showed that while Lohan was good going forward, he didn't like in up him.

[Bord na Mona man]

I think it was Ger O'Grady who pulled across Murphy before the match.
The sledging at throw in seems to be a newly devised Clare tactic.
Remember Gerry Quinn pulling on Mark O'Leary's hand instead of returning the pre-match handshake.
With the ref having to start his watches, keep the eager midfielders waiting for the throw-in in check, it seems that this is the window of opportunity for the Banner boys to wear timber.

Ah yes, day 1 in 1998. The pre-match whooping, bawling and yahooing of the Clare fans that day in the streets of Dublin was something else. They were up to protest - hurling Offaly was merely a sideshow. It's more likely that Cooney gave most decisions to Clare that day, fearing Loughnane would be back on his soap box screaming about the anti-Clare bias in the GAA.
Obviously for the replay, he realised he'd screwed Offaly the first day (it was a press topic too), and started giving us the decisions.

[Bord na Mona man]

Clare legend disputes official version of infamous early whistle

THE major furore that surrounded the 1998 Clare-Offaly All-Ireland hurling semi-final replay has re-erupted following controversial remarks by Ger Loughnane that that he didn't accept the official version of why Galway referee Jimmy Cooney ended the second game prematurely.

Loughnane made his contentious remarks on RTE television last Sunday night while commenting on the aftermath of the game that was re-fixed after the referee blew the final whistle a few minutes early.

The dramatic ending, followed by a sit-down protest by Offaly supporters, was featured on Sunday Sport as part of RTE's Top 20 televised GAA moments.

Interviews with both Cooney and Loughnane were included, with the referee explaining that he had made a genuine time-keeping error.

However, Loughnane said that he had never accepted that and queried whether the decision not to send off Offaly's Michael Duignan for an earlier incident had anything to do with it.

Clare were leading by three points when the premature ending came, but the match had to be re-fixed and, this time, Offaly won, thus ending Clare's reign as All-Ireland champions.

Cooney was stunned when he heard Loughnane's remarks last Sunday night and hit back yesterday, claiming that the former Clare manager had "lost the run of himself completely".

"I was absolutely amazed when I heard what he said. I have no idea where it came from or what he was on about. I'm very annoyed that he would even suggest that it was anything other than a genuine time-keeping mistake.

"I have had a lot of calls about it today and everyone who phoned was as surprised as me. What's he at? We're talking about something that happened nearly seven years ago and now he wants to put a new spin on it," said Cooney.

Elaborating on his remarks yesterday, Loughnane said that he was making no accusations against Cooney, whom he would have been happy to see referee the third game, but he still felt there were far too many unanswered questions surrounding the whole affair.

"Why wasn't the match re-started when the error was spotted? Why was Jimmy Cooney ushered off the pitch? Why did the teams come out so quickly for the next game?

"Who told them to go onto the pitch when there was still so much confusion over our game? As for what happened afterwards, well it was strange to say the least.

"I have never accepted some of the explanations we were given at the time. You must remember that Clare weren't exactly flavour of the month in official circles. Let's say that some very important people in the GAA had what you might call an unsympathetic view of Clare.

"Frankly, a lot of people wanted us out of the championship. Things were descending on top of us at an unrelenting pace around then and they all couldn't be accidental.

"All I'm saying is that things aren't always as simple as they seem. It's my opinion that there was more to that whole saga than ever became public. When you're asked for your opinion, you give it and not somebody else's. That's all I've done here," said Loughnane.

However, he must have been aware that to even query why Cooney ended the game prematurely would prove controversial.

Cyril Farrell, who was the hurling analyst on Sunday Sport moved quickly to challenge Loughnane's remarks which, according to Cooney, were deeply hurtful.

"Ger wrote a book a few years ago and never suggested anything like this," said Cooney. "In fact, he accepted that a mistake had been made. I made a genuine time-keeping error - it's as simple as that - and to imply anything else is very wrong.

"I can't understand why he came up with this notion all these years later," he said.

Loughnane said it was important to remember the mood of the time. Clare were already incensed over the suspension handed down to Colin Lynch after the Munster final replay against Waterford and felt that they weren't getting a fair deal from officialdom.

"I still say there are far too many unanswered questions from that whole period," said Loughnane.

As far as Cooney is concerned, the premature ending of the Clare-Offaly replay is not among them. "It seems everybody except Ger Loughnane accepts my version of events. That's good enough for me," he said.

[Percy Sledgehammer]

Was beat to the punch posting that article!

I'm really not sure what Loughnane thinks he has to gain from this. Unless he wants the whole world to be against Clare again.

[Bord na Mona man]

I beat you to the pull Percy!