Yes, this was a kick in the teeth for Barrs...but every team must learn from it

JIM GAVIN is associated, in the public mind, with glory and humiliation.

- GARRY DOYLE

The former came in waves - five in a row, a dynasty, an era. The latter arrived in a single soundbite, a sitting Taoiseach effectively flinging a coach under a political bus.

Yet what may prove to be his most enduring legacy lies not in Sam Maguires or soundbites but in a quiet revolution - a rewriting of Gaelic football's rulebook, an attempt to rescue a sport that was edging towards tactical suffocation.

And then came Sunday's Munster SFC club final.

A game of scale and promise reduced, in the end, to a whistle and a judgement. St Finbarr's chasing air, Dingle gifted oxygen.

Referee Chris Maguire adjudged that Dylan White had illegally prevented the taking of a quick free.

The sanction was severe by design - 50 metres advanced. The destination was fatal. Conor Geaney, steady amid the wreckage, banged over a two-point free. Full stop. Full-time. Dream done.

Predictably, the internet went to town - "harsh", "wrong call", "these rules are ruining football."