THE LAST POINT: Treading a fine line on referees

Ever feel as if you're trying to balance on the head of a needle? Or walking a line so fine that one mis-step could send you tumbling into a crevice so deep and unending that you'd never find your way out? That's how I've been feeling about this column and how to address the ending of Sunday's Allianz  NFL Division 4 clash in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada.

Chances are, had I put pen to paper on Sunday evening, this would be a very different column, full of invective, fire and brimstone. A couple of days to reflect has tempered those notions but it is a subject you can't avoid - crucial decisions in matches that can make or break a season.

First, a confession, there's one part of my weekly reports I really don't like doing and that is the “Ref Watch” section but people seem to like it. I don't because  referees come in for unending abuse from the first round of the first whistle right to the fading echo of the long blast to signal the end of a game without me adding to it  - and more often than not, that abuse continues long after!

Think I'm exaggerating? Go to any game, juvenile to top class inter-county, and listen to what is being directed at the man, or woman, in black -  a never-ending stream of insults, complaints and pressure being piled on the man in the middle. Players exaggerating contact, feigning injury, roaring at the official  to influence a decision and that's before we talk about what we hear from the sidelines  - a never ending assault on the one person without whom a game couldn’t take place.

It’s why I’m reluctant to pile on any more to an official - I’m no saint at a game, roaring and shouting at referees when I get caught up in a game, the same as anyone else but the rational part of my brain knows we'd have no games without referees and, as I've said before, no amount of money could persuade me to officiate a game.

THE LAST POINT: A WEEKEND FULL OF EMOTION

But sometimes you’ve got to bite the bullet - mistakes are made and that’s understandable but sometimes, you got to say there were mistakes, just the same as you’ve got to say about players or managers. It’s not a part of the job I particularly relish, no matter what some may think and that’s where we come to last Sunday.

Leitrim got what can be euphemistically called a “bounce of the ball” when awarded a penalty in added time by Donegal referee Mark Dorrian. My initial instinct was the referee, taking charge of his first inter county game, got the call wrong and footage on X, or Twitter as us old fogies like to call it, reinforced that notion.

I wonder how I’d have reacted in that situation - Wexford manager John Hegarty was much more restrained, in words and deeds, than I’d have been and even the few protests at the end were pretty tame compared to some of the scenes I’ve witnessed at club games in this county.

What best illustrates to me the impossible dilemma referees face is that both Leitrim and Wexford fans were adamant that the match official was completely against their side. Some opine that’s a good sign because the one-eyed blinker is definitely in place when our  teams are playing.

Whatever decisions were made in terms of technical offences and even off-the-ball wrestling, which by its very nature is almost impossible to police, I reckon there were three major decisions made by the referee  and, in a superb feat of sitting on the fence, I’m going 1-1-1 , that is  one right, one undecided and one wrong.

Leitrim’s disallowed goal for a square infringement looked spot on to me , I haven’t seen it back but nobody I spoke to had any qualms about that call. One up for the referee. Number 2 comes under the rather nebulous heading of referee’s discretion and I give Mr Dorrian a pass here. Mark Diffley, booked five minutes into the second half, committed another foul 11 minutes later and the referee called him back, pulled out his notebook, looked at it and put it back while issuing the Leitrim captain with a warning.

Who knows what might have happened had the referee not exercised leniency? There was no doubt it was worthy of a booking and what might Wexford have done with an extra man for the entire final quarter? But again, that’s at the discretion of the referee - I think Leitrim got away with one there but that’s his prerogative.

Decision number 3 is the big one and ironically, the one with some blinded by their Leitrim colours believe was actually the correct decision - and you know, that's ok too, people believe what they want to believe just like me. Wexford full back Gavin Sheehan may have touched Barry McNulty but the contact was minimal, even incidental, and not one Leitrim player appealed for the spot kick - telling in itself.

Perhaps the simplest test to conduct to truly gauge if you believe the decision was right or wrong is to ask 'what would your reaction be if the same decision was made at the other end?' I get that some people believe it was a penalty, genuinely or just from a sense of we've suffered from those sort of decisions ourselves too many times in the past but if you are in any way honest, you know Leitrim got away with one - we’ll gladly take it, it was badly needed but it was still the wrong decision. 

Some will argue with classic Irish ‘whataboutery’, citing decisions that went against Leitrim in the past - Shane Moran’s disallowed goal against Sligo two years ago in the Tailteann Cup got an airing but if you’re arguing that way, you may as well stop now. The decision to disallow Moran’s goal was plainly wrong and I’ve got to say the penalty decision last Sunday was just as wrong.

THE LAST POINT: ANOTHER VENUE TICKED OVER THE LIST

I’ve heard some argue that Wexford didn’t deserve any better, having missed a couple of  frees - that's nowhere near the remit of any referee and even if it was, does that mean Leitrim got exactly what they deserved two years ago when Moran's goal was wrongly chalked off - not that I’d make that argument but you get the point!

My argument is frustratingly simple - right is right, wrong is wrong and I truly believe the Donegal official got that decision wrong. It is a decision with huge consequences - Leitrim could probably have absorbed a defeat but with a loss to Laois already on their books, Wexford may well have seen their League hopes ended by that one decision.

Normally, I’d quote my great friend Willie Donnellan, part time philosopher, and say “If your Aunt had ….” -  well you get the drift! Shane Moran’s cited disallowed goal came early in the first half of extra time, it was wrong but both teams had  loads of time   to influence what  happened afterwards so it is not quite the same situation.

Last Sunday was the perfect storm - two points between the teams, the decision to award the penalty absolutely altered the result. Did Wexford have a chance to earn a draw? They did but Leitrim did exactly what any good team would do, flooding back, tactically fouling and slowing down the game to ensure that no equalising opportunity came - I'm not a fan of it but I absolutely understand and even endorse it.

THE LAST POINT: WHEN WINNING ISN'T ENOUGH

I'd rather write this column about  the game itself  - Leitrim's refusal to buckle, Ryan O'Rourke's wondrous hat-trick, the magnificence of Barry McNulty, Wexford's superb Paraic Hughes and their costly inaccuracy. I'd even say a few words on a bewildering Leitrim performance that featured some moments of real quality but all too often laboured  uncomfortably against a Wexford team who were the better side for most of the contest.

Much of Sunday's game echoed the  London game,  flashes of what Andy Moran's men can do when they move the ball quickly but you can't exactly say Leitrim played particularly well. They won, that's obviously welcome, but longer term, you'd want to see a good  bit more of what they showed in flashes against Wexford.

Talking about a referee's decisions is not what I want to do but  if I don't write about something so central to the game, what do I do if the same happens Leitrim next Sunday in Netwatch Cullen Park? 

One final admission - those three decisions aside, I thought Mark Dorrian did a reasonable  job. I know that puts me in a minority but, just like the penalty decision, it is all a matter of opinion!