Gaels cry foul over club final’s ‘ghost goal’

All-Ireland senior club glory eluded O’Loughlin Gaels as they fell to an agonising one-point defeat at the hands of St Thomas of Galway in a manic championship decider in Croke Park.

After claiming one point wins over Shamrocks, Na Fianna and Ruairi Og Cushendall, the shoe was on the other foot as the city side found themselves on the wrong end of a minimum score result.

The St Thomas stoppage time winner from Eanna Burke was one of the best scores to grace the hallowed turf in recent memory, but it’s what happened earlier in the contest that raised the ire of the O’Loughlins faithful.

Owen Wall looked to have a perfectly finished goal cross the line, but with the umpires unsighted Fintan Burke’s attempts to keep the ball in play succeeded as the game continued.

“We were bemused by the incident as it seemed like a straightforward call from our side and both umpires were standing right behind the goal,” a devastated O’Loughlin Gaels selector Nigel Skehan said after the game.

“I’m an umpire myself and I’ve done a lot of work on it and I think their position behind the goal was very poor for the goal chance.

“We were deservedly two up at the time and a goal would have been a great tonic for us as Owen Wall took it so well when running in. How they’ve missed it I’ve no idea.”

On the other side St Thomas boss Kenneth Burke admitted that his side may have got away with one.

“At the time I didn’t know it went in. If it did go in, sometimes you get the rub of the green, other times you don’t. You just have to adapt and keep going. I suppose it had no real say on the game after that. It was point for point. Both teams were getting good scores and it was a battle around the middle.”

Ahead of his episode of TG4 series Laochra Gael, which airs today (Thursday) at 9.30pm, Richie Power called on the GAA to introduce technology to determine if the ball has crossed the goal line.

“I said it to my father while watching the game that with all the technology that’s out there, how haven’t we got goal-line technology in relation to incidents like that?

“We had it a couple of years ago with Tipperary in the 2018 Munster Hurling Championship against Waterford where the ball was caught on the line and the goal was awarded.

“Hawkeye can figure out points. How they can’t come up with something in relation to goals? People will talk about the positioning of the umpires. Ok, they probably weren’t in the best positions to make the call, but it’s human error at the end of the day.”

O’Loughlins failed to capitalise on the second half red card to James Regan and Power feels they will see this final as one that got away.

“It’s going to be a huge regret for O’Loughlins but you have to give great credit to St Thomas as well for the way they stayed going,” he said.

“As I said, it’s human error. You can blame referees, umpires, but at the end of the day, if you have goal-line technology there, it’s a very easy decision then.

“The referee gets something on his watch or something in his ear to say it was a goal. It takes the decision out of the umpire and the referee’s in live play.”