Following the farcical events in Semple Stadium last Sunday, surely the GAA will have to face up to the need to bring the refereeing and umpiring of its showcase games at least into the 20th century, if not the 21st.?

The pity was that, due to the lack of TV coverage (another GAA cockup), the sheer extent of the inadequacy of the officiating was not made apparent to a much wider audience.

The facts are as follows. Twice referee Pat Aherne changed the decisions made by the umpires (handpicked by Aherne himself). A couple of other umpiring decisions were hotly contested by players from the teams which found themselves at the wrong end of these decisions. Limerick scored two goals and a point immediately following the failure of the referee to award frees for what appeared to be blatant fouls on Waterford players. One of these was when Paul Flynn was brought down having got inside the Limerick last line of defence. A second was when Waterford corner back Alan Kirwan was clearly caught around the neck when attempting to come out with the ball. The third was when Fergal Hartley was clearly struck across the head after catching a high ball. On this occasion, referee Aherne initially signalled a foul against Hartley for overcarrying, and then decided to throw in the ball for no apparent reason.

An Moltóir has seen Pat Aherne officiating at many games in recent years, and had never noted any fundamental flaws in his performances. The facts that he is from a "non-hurling" county or that he is from Leinster should not, in themselves, be reasons for objecting to him taking charge of Munster championship games. What is important is refereeing competence, and last Sunday Pat Aherne failed miserably on this criterion. There were similar, if not as vociferous, complaints about Aodán Mac Suibhne’s refereeing of the Clare-Tipperary first round game a fortnight previously.

Perhaps the sheer pace and intensity of the modern game is now making it impossible for a single referee to keep up. Some people have already been saying that last Sunday’s events point to the need to have two referees in charge of big games such as this. However, the fact is that, last Sunday, there were no less than three top intercounty referees officating at Semple Stadium, including the two linesmen (one of whom, Willie Barrett, would be considered to be in the top six in the country). Yet, unbelievably, the latter are not allowed to draw fouls to the attention of the referee. This is in direct contrast to the situation in soccer, where the pitch is much smaller and the pace of the game much slower. It is particularly difficult for a GAA referee to detect what is going on when play is along the sidelines or in one of the four corners of the pitch. If you have top class referees running the line, why shouldn’t they be allowed to assist the referee by flagging foul play?

Undoubtedly, there will be resistance to such a move from certain quarters precisely because that is the way it is done in soccer. This is similar to the resistance there was to the introduction of red and yellow cards and the exclusion zone around the penalty spot. These were all introduced in soccer because they made good sense. Yet, as Dan McCartan once famously observed at a GAA congress, there are people who would have Gaelic football played with a square ball, just to be different from soccer.

The situation as regards umpires is even crazier. At the moment, these are chosen by referees, usually from their circle of friends and acquaintances. As far as An Moltóir is aware, these are subjected to no tests regarding their eyesight, agility or knowledge of the rules of the game, nor are they given any training as regards, for example, synchronised positioning in various types of situation. For all we know, an umpire for an All-Ireland final could be pulled without notice out of an after-Mass crowd on the morning of the game by the match referee. And it is very noticeable that a lot of the umpires one sees at big games are men of advanced age. Now, An Moltóir does not wish to be ageist, but advancing years do have a general deteriorating effect on one’s eyesight, reaction times and even ability to withstand the heat of a summer’s day.

It is high time for the GAA to appoint intercounty referees to also act as umpires at intercounty championship matches. Intercounty referees do receive training and are tested regularly. It would take little extra to provide umpiring training as part of the package. It is unfair both on players who put in so much effort in training to have the outcomes of their games hinging on bad calls by untrained umpires who may be half-blind, for all we know. It is also unfair to the paying public who attend these games and make a huge emotional investment in them – not to mention the hundreds of thousands watching the games on TV all over the world. Seán Kelly has shown some indications that he is a forward-looking man of action. Well, this is an obvious situation, with obvious remedies, which cries out for urgent and sensible reform.

Despite Pat Aherne’s decision-making, which affected Waterford disproportionately, the fact is that the Déise men should still have won this game reasonably comfortably. They spurned a hatful of goalscoring opportunities, the most amazing of all being John Mullane’s handpass to the net having rounded the goalkeeper. In the first half, on three occasions Waterford forwards got inside the last line of the Limerick defence, only to have the final handpass cut out by alert Limerick backs. In a rerun of an incident in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final, Seamus Prendergast and John Mullane got in each other’s way in front of goal on another occasion, with Mullane eventually hitting a weak shot which Timmy Houlihan saved comfortably. Waterford also missed a number of straighforward point-scoring chances, including missed frees and two bad late misses by Eoin Kelly and Ken McGrath.

Waterford followers still await the day when both Paul Flynn and Ken McGrath strike form in the same game. In last year’s Munster semi-final, Flynn was magic but in the Munster final was largely anonymous in general play, while McGrath took the man-of-the-match honours. Last Sunday, Flynn was again at his best, but McGrath had a very poor game by his standards.

Replays rarely provide a carbon copy of the preceding draws. Next Saturday we could see a dour, low-scoring game with few goals. Limerick may feel that they have to psychological advantage, having got out of gaol the last day. Waterford may feel that, having shown an ability to cut open the Limerick defence, the sharper edge which an extra game will provide should suffice to see off the opposition. There is also the question of how the Leaving Certificate exams will impact on Andrew O’Shaughnessy and Patrick Kirby – two very exciting talents on last Sunday’s showing. And then there is the question of what referee will be placed in charge of the replay…