Analysis of last Sunday’s gripping All-Ireland semi-final is straightforward...

Clare were simply the latest victims of the late Cork power surge which also accounted for Waterford in the quarter-final and Kilkenny in last year’s All-Ireland final. In the two O’Connors and Tom Kenny, Cork have three superfit speed merchants who thrive in the spaces which begin to open up late in high-energy games. Commentators have spoken about an “ageing” Clare team running out of steam in the final quarter, yet no one made the same remarks about Waterford and Kilkenny.

In the circumstances, the changes made by John Allen may not have been as vital as most people believe, although Niall Ronan certainly made quite an impact when he came on. For all we know, the highly mobile Ronan Curran may have stormed into the game himself in the closing stages, just as Ben O’Connor, who had previously been anonymous, did.

Normally, Cork depend on their tight defence to keep them in touch until the speed merchants click into gear in the final quarter. They lost last year’s Munster final because of Waterford’s ability to score goals, and because, somewhat upset by the fact that they had an extra man, they gave up their running game in the second half. Last Sunday it was not the quality of their defence, but the lack of quality of the Clare shooting, which allowed them to stay in touch. While the media focus has been on the unfortunate Colin Lynch in this respect, the finger should also be pointed at Tony Griffin, who shot several bad wides in the first half.

There has also been criticism of Davy Fitzgerald’s persistence in hitting high ball down the middle in the closing stages. However, Fitzy was faced with a dilemma: hit out low balls and they would probably be picked up by the Cork runners; hit out high balls and they are won by the Cork halfbacks who give them to the runners anyway. Perhaps Anthony Daly should have packed his defence to try and stifle the late Cork surge, and to give Fitzy extra targets for short puckouts. It was surprising that the experienced David Forde was not brought in – his strong running could have helped stem the Cork tide and present a new challenge to the Cork defence.

Despite all the hype surrounding the Christy Ring Cup competition, the GAA ultimately devalued it by appointing a second rate team of officials to take charge of the game. Dennis Richardson’s timekeeping gaffe was a basic mistake, but why did the fourth official not intervene to inform him of his mistake? What is the fourth official for, after all? And surely Richardson must have wondered why he had not been asked by the linesman how much extra time was to be played before he blew the short whistle.

However, Richardson’s biggest mistake was to disallow Stephen Clarke’s second half goal. The key question about a square ball is where the offending player is standing when the ball enters the square, not when he hits it. The video replay shows the Clarke was outside the square when Paul Braniff’s shot came in. When the ball rebounded to Clarke it was already inside the square. It should have been immaterial at this stage where Clarke was positioned. Yet by pointing to the spot where Clarke was standing, the referee clearly thought this was the key issue.

Nor did the RTE commentators, Marty Morrissey and Tomás Mulcahy, show any greater knowledge of the rules, as both focused on Clarke’s positioning. On the basis of this error alone, Down deserve to get a replay. On top of that, not only did Richardson fail to give Martin Coulter a free in a scorable position when he was blatantly shouldered in the back late in the game, but he actually penalised Coulter himself for no apparent reason. Meanwhile, at the other end of the field, Westmeath got a 65 which was converted after Gary Savage was driven over the end line by an illegal frontal challenge by a Westmeath forward.

Overall, Westmeath looked the better hurlers in this game, but Down were tenacious to the end. Perhaps the crucial deciding factor (apart from the disallowed goal) was the muted performance of Paul Braniff, who had acted as Westmeath’s chief executioner in last year’s National Hurling League Division 2 final. The excellent performance of the Westmeath centre back, Darren McCormack was a major factor here, but the injuries which have plagued Braniff in the last year no doubt also played their part.

On the Westmeath team, the much-hyped John Shaw was also rather anonymous, but he still managed to get his side’s crucial goal. The large number of frees scored by both sides highlights the lack of discipline which tends to be a feature of teams below the top grade. However, it was nice to see two freetakers with simple direct styles, when one bears in mind the physical gyrations which are now the norm for several freetakers at the top level.

A couple of final points about events in Croke Park last Sunday. The mini-sevens is a great idea, and those who organise these games are generally to be congratulated. However, in a situation where the young players concerned have just ten minutes to enjoy themselves on the Croke Park pitch, the delay in erecting goalposts before these games was farcical. Some mentors already had put the posts together before halftime in the two senior games, but it looked really bad to see people struggling with the different pieces while the players stood around helplessly waiting for their moment of glory. The ultimate farce was when one set of erectors ended up in kneeling positions holding up two rods to act as goalposts, having failed to put the full goalposts together.

Finally, to RTE’s match commentators. One would expect these to be both expert and impartial. Tomás Mulcahy gave up all semblance of impartiality last Sunday when he repeatedly referred to Cork as “we” and was clearly upset by the way the game was going against the Rebels. Ger Canning retained a bit more poise, but even he found himself querying one of Dicky Murphy’s rulings when Niall Ronan clearly had clearly hopped the ball off the ground with his hand. Surely, in a game involving Cork, RTE should give us commentators who are not from that county.

Nor did either commentator have any idea why Colin Lynch was penalised in the first half, when again it should have been clear that he had taken the ball to hand three times when in possession. Incidentally, Niall Ronan did the same thing late in the game and got away with it. And Dicky should have given Clare a free in the dying moments when Joe Deane blatantly fell on the ball to prevent it being played. On such simple things are tight games like this decided.