The point should not have stood

Who gave Marty Duffy a mandate to use the screen to make his decisions?

And why did he not use it to review several other controversies in the match including the Dublin no. 14's (name escapes me - the lad who's head moves up and down when he soloes - the awkward looking lad) cowardly leading with his elbow on Stephen Bray around the 20 minute mark. This was off-the-ball as Bray was running to make a tackle. It was a red card offence and television replays would have confirmed this to the referee. I also recall being very frustrated with another off-the-ball challenge in the second half although can't remember the parties involved.

As far as am I concerned, both umpires - after some hesitation - unanimously decided the ball was wide. The ref has no authority to use the screen to retrosepctively award the score. I also felt Pat Gilroy shouting in the linesman's ear a little bit unacceptable.

Yet again, we have a situation where the Dubs are being unfair advantages. How ironic is it that upon a few jeers from the hill, the GAA bow to them and introduce television replay technology. A scandalous situation.

Its a dangerous precedent. Either its used or its not.
It can only be used in Croke park which seems bizarre
And then is it used for the perimiter of a score, overcarrying, square ball, touchdowns or what ?

Taking last year

Kildare would have beaten Donegal
Cahill ? Or whoever would have been sent off for beheading Karl Lacey
And kevin Mcmenamons goal in the final would have been ruled out for overcarrying

What's worrying is that the pundits on The Sunday Game and on the radio appeared to support Duffy's decision because in the end "he got it right".

Well I'm afraid he got it badly wrong. With all the talk about referees' performances being so minutely analysed, surely Duffy can't get another game if he's going to go round setting precedents like the one this afternoon.

As far as I am concerned, the point should not have stood, and Meath maybe would not have bad to go for goals so soon.

It's also worrying that the Dublin manager has the power to influence the officials. I must watch out for this later on in the year. Possibly something going on here.

Such an incident cost France the 2006 world cup final, when the fourth official watched the replay of Zidane's headbutt on the big screen.

the gaa released a statement that the linesman gave it , and the meath players were a disgrace roaring and bullying the umpires into giving the wide , this has crept into the game over the last few years and has to be stamped out maybe a yellow or red card today would have put a stop to this for once and for all

banjo wrote: ...and the meath players were a disgrace roaring and bullying the umpires into giving the wide , this has crept into the game over the last few years and has to be stamped out maybe a yellow or red card today would have put a stop to this for once and for all

Agreed. Referees get a lot of stick, but players and managers do everything they can to make life difficult for them.

Don't see the problem when it was clearly a point??? Would you prefer the point to have wrongly not been given?? The umpire was actually going for the white flag before the Meath keeper and two defenders started haranguing him in a disgraceful and unsporting manner ... then again it is Meath. You can't be always winning Leinster titles by shocking and wrong official decisionas .... try to win them fairly.

Anyway it was given by the linesman who clearly saw it .....

[Anyway it was given by the linesman who clearly saw it ..... [/quote]

True - hard not to see its a decent sized screen

From the Cusack Stand, it looked as if some of the Meath players were telling the half-backs to spread out. I think one or two then turned round and instructed Gallagher to kick the ball out to the wings. Some people appear to have misinterpretated the gesticulation as trying to influence the umpire's decision. This is incorrect - watch the replay, they did not do this. Also I would re-iterate my earlier point - Gilroy let himself and his county down by screaming in the linesman's ear.

Also Jayo yes I think the point should not have been awarded. Although I would agree that it was a legitimate point.

come on royal you could hear the meath players roaring and gestering it was wide .how do meath live with themselves has the leinster final of 2010 gone to their heads ? as i said this has been creeping in and it would have been great to see the referee take action against these players.

Bigger problem to me is in how umpires are assigned. At senior championship level, including club, it seems daft to me that the ref's 4 mates remain the go-to option. When I reffed under-age I had to treat umpires as decorations and frankly it's not a whole lot better at inter-county. There are enough refs out there to fill those jobs and I think it should be refs in the white coats. I think the Ulster council used to use refs as umpires for the Ulster Final.