Dejected Corofin hit out at referee Devenney
Date Published: {J}
DEFEATED Corofin captain Kieran Fitzgerald lambasted Mayo referee, Liam Devenney, for his standard of officiating during the Connacht club football championship final at Kiltoom, on Sunday.
The Ballina official was “a disgrace to the association” blasted the former inter-county player, who blamed refereeing decisions – including ruling out what appeared to be a legitimate Corofin first-half goal by full-forward Mike Farragher – for his side’s 0-11 to 0-10 loss to Roscommon champions St Brigid’s.
The extraordinarily frank and critical comments came more than 20 minutes after the final whistle; the ugly scenes of abuse towards the referee had abated, and the victorious captain, Darragh Donnelly’s speech had long since finished.
Most of Corofin’s players and management team had retired to the sanctuary of the dressing room to lick their wounds but Fitzgerald was still out on the field of play, exchanging opinions with downtrodden Corofin fans.
No doubt they were poring over the injustice of some of the refereeing decisions that went against Corofin: it was a post-mortem with supporters that may have coloured – or even fuelled – what Fitzgerald subsequently said in an interview to Tribune Sport and Galway Bay FM.
The 30-year-old let the official have it with both barrels. Hands on his hips, the full-back looked absolutely bewildered to have lost. Fitzgerald was smiling as he spoke but it was an ironic smile, one of incredulity and disbelief that refereeing decisions had cost him another Connacht medal, and another crack at an All-Ireland.
He shook his head in disbelief as he spoke, and occasionally threw his eyes up to the sky, as if to ask God how he could have let this happen, and said: “Disappointment is an understatement, to be honest with you – the referee was a disgrace to the association today in my opinion. We are bitterly disappointed, we worked so hard and I know Brigid’s did as well but, at the end of the day, all you want is a bit of fair play. I know this sounds like sour grapes but I’m bitterly disappointed in the referee today.
“It (disallowed goal) looked legitimate to me. It looked like a good goal. The referee was running in and had his arm out for a square ball before the ball was even gone in. It looked legitimate, I haven’t seen the video yet and I could be wrong but it looked legitimate.
“We’re bitterly disappointed. Fair dues to Brigid’s and best of look to them in the quarter-final in two week’s time. They’re a Connacht team and we hope they go all the way . . . but when you’re playing a game to this level and when you’re putting in so much work at the end of the day you expect a bit of fair play and I feel myself, as captain of Corofin, we didn’t get that today.”
A spokesperson for the Connacht GAA Council said it would await the receipt of Devenney’s referee’s report before taking any action in relation to the pitch invasion at the final whistle.
The match referee was abused by Corofin supporters who poured onto the field at the final whistle, seething at several controversial decisions that went against the Galway champions.
Fitzgerald’s comments about Devenney’s handling of the match may have been accurate but the scenes that followed the final whistle and overshadowed what went before were equally as disgraceful: Devenney was surrounded by a mob of Corofin supporters, baying for blood as proceedings boiled over.
For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.