GOING WITH THE FLOW

Common-sense refereeing was crucial to an epic Munster final

- BY KARL O'KANE

THE statistic painted a picture and has drawn a lot of commentary since.

In last Saturday evening's Munster Hurling Final, referee Thomas Walsh awarded six first half frees.

Two of them were for throw balls, so four were for tackles in a game where the challenges were flying in.

Many observers praised Walsh's performance, while the perception with others was that he 'let too much go, but was that the reality? As part of the RTE panel, Donal Og Cusack commented: "We've spoken about the referee a lot in the last couple of weeks, but to be fair, it's like trying to control a boat on the high seas in the dark.

"Who could actually referee that? The way the rules are so not defined. The whole tackle thing "Most of the tackles we are seeing here are not in the rulebook at all. I think it would be unfair to go after him (the referee). He has done his best, like everybody else is doing their best." A review of the video of the game indicates a level of consistency from the Waterford official that neither side can complain about as he enhanced the spectacle, rather than taking away from it.

Walsh's pragmatism was more than likely founded on the realisation that if he blew every arm across a player or slight drag back it would have been a long evening for himself and everyone else on one of the showpiece days in the GAA calendar.

Obvious pushes in the back were generally given as frees. Any contact with the helmet was a free. A bit of pulling and dragging was allowed, but if you left the arm in too long it was blown up.

Players and everyone else knew exactly where they stood. No-one was getting soft frees for anything.