Three minutes before the break in the All-Ireland final, TJ Reid tapped a ball towards Colin Fennelly.
The Kilkenny full-forward picked up the sliotar and ran towards goal only to be stopped in his tracks by a dangerous high tackle from Galway corner back Johnny Coen.
After taking sometime to deliberate with his linesman, referee James Owens showed Coen a yellow card.
Both Michael Duignan on co-commentary duty and Galway man Cyril Farrell back in the RTÉ studio felt that Coen should have seen red rather than yellow.