Sickening defeat for Corofin

Date Published: {J}

St Brigid’s 0-11Corofin 0-10

RIGHT from the off in Sunday’s Connacht club football championship final, it was clear there would be one headline talking point: Referee, Liam Devenney.

And so it turned out, although nobody could have predicted the ugly scenes at the final whistle in Kiltoom in which the Mayo referee and his officials were barracked and jostled when surrounded by irate travelling supporters from Corofin.

The man in the middle was frustratingly finicky and pernickety from the throw-in. Just minutes into the clash of the Connacht club titans, Corofin and St Brigid’s, the referee inexplicably booked former Galway player, Damien Burke, who lined-out on the ‘40. What for? Only Devenney knew.

Minutes later, another county player, Gary Sice saw yellow. Again, it was a strange, harsh call. By half-time seven players, three St Brigid’s and four Corofin, had their names written into the referees’ little black book, with the general consensus being just one of them, Alan O’Donovan’s high and late challenge on St Brigid’s full-back Darragh Donnelly, deserved a caution.

With yellow cards thrown about with abandon and without any commonsense, it’s a mystery how 30 players lasted the full hour, by which time the yellow card count had almost doubled to 13, which incredibly is a booking nearly every five minutes. And all this in a match that hadn’t a hint of malice or rancour.

But Devenney’s liberal use of the yellow card only underlined his fussiness; it was the free count – almost two to one against Corofin – and some appalling decisions that really rankled with the Corofin players, management and support.

The Ballina official awarded some 29 frees to 16 against Corofin, some of them quite frankly bizarre in the extreme, which certainly made a difference to the final result. The pitch and weather conditions – hardly a puff of wind and the winter sun shining – were conducive to an attractive game of football, which both sides attempted to play despite Devenney’s constant whistling.

He ruled out what looked like a perfectly legitimate goal from Corofin’s Mike Farragher in the first half, and instead signalled a free-out for a square ball, a decision he made, frustratingly, without consulting either umpires.

What are umpires there for, if not to assist the referee in such crucial decisions? Television replays confirmed most observers ‘live’ gut instincts that the green flag should have been raised. On such blatant errors, and ill-judgement in not consulting, are finals won and lost.

Devenney also accidentally interfered with a Daithi Burke pass on the Corofin ‘40, late in the second half with the Galway champions on the hunt for an equaliser but rather than awarding a throw-in, he allowed play to continue and St Brigid’s went on the attack – luckily the Roscommon outfit’s midfielder, Karl Mannion, ballooned his effort wide but it was a mistake from the referee that robbed Corofin of go-forward momentum at a vital stage.

Then with the match on a knife edge, tied at 0-9 apiece deep into the second half, St Brigid’s were awarded a free-in against Sice, who clearly had been fouled initially and who should have been awarded a free-out. That decision, above all others, was mindboggling and game-changing, particularly given marksman Frankie Dolan converted the placed ball.

Devenney was poor for both sides, although Corofin certainly got a rawer deal, and though it won’t matter one jot to the Galway kingpins now, he shouldn’t be allowed to officiate another match again, at the very least until he gets a refresher course in refereeing and commonsense.

But for all his many faults on Sunday, Devenney didn’t deserve to be blackguarded by Corofin ‘fans’ afterwards. The disgraceful scenes at the final whistle, with emotions running high, were unacceptable and brought shame to the North Galway club. Verbal abuse and jostling could easily have led to assault had the officials not been protected and shepherded from the park.

It’s a pity poor officiating and the ‘mob mentality’ of some supporters overshadowed what was an exciting, closely fought contest.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.