Croke Park hosted one of the greatest All-Ireland hurling finals of all time on Sunday, as Clare overcame Cork by a point in extra time.
However, for Rebels supporters, the result will inevitably shaded by the decision by referee Johnny Murphy not to blow a free against Clare defender Conor Leen, who had a handful of Robbie O'Flynn's jersey on the final shot of the game.
O'Flynn had done a heroic job coming down with Patrick Collins's long puck in and had plenty of space to strike his shot. However his shot sailed wide. How things might have been different if Leen wasn't pulling on O'Flynn's shirt.
Awful way to lose an All-Ireland. pic.twitter.com/kVhJcZJDHa
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) July 21, 2024
On co-commentary, Michael Duignan was not pleased just after the fulltime whistle blew, saying:
His jersey was pulled. It should have been a free in, tap it over, draw match. It's absolutely unbelievable.
I feel so sorry for Patrick Horgan and Seamus Harnedy in particular, but delighted for [Brian] Lohan.
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Donal Óg Cusack weighs in on Cork free shout in All-Ireland final
It took awhile to get Donal Óg Cusack's opinion on the incident. After the post-match speech and interviews were complete, the RTÉ studio team analysed the second half of injury time and Cusack weighed in.
The Cloyne man has built a reputation as being one of the opinionated pundits in the GAA, but brilliantly, Cusack took the high road and refused to criticise ref Johnny Murphy for not calling a free.
I wouldn't. I know. I wouldn't. I wouldn't have.
I wouldn't hold that against Clare, I'm telling you.
Clare won the game. Robbie O'Flynn, we can still say he should have put the ball over the bar. I guarantee you.
He still got his shot off. It'd be wrong. It'd be wrong.
Daly interjects: The jersey was pulled.
It was pulled. It'd be wrong to let that colour the game. There was loads of different incidents that could have went one way or the other.
It was a foul. We know that. The jersey was pulled but he still got his chance to put it over the bar.
As a Corkperson, I'm conscious of who I'm representing here, I wouldn't be going on about that.
It was great television, but more importantly, great punditry. Cusack parked his natural biases and provided reasoned and responsible analysis. It was harsh on Cork - and there should have been a replay after fulltime - but one incident should not cloud our memories of an unbelievable day.
