Sligo defeated Leitrim after a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals of the Tailteann Cup on Sunday. A superb game had finished 2-13 to 1-16 after 70 minutes.
It looked as though Leitrim had got the perfect start to the first period of extra-time by scoring their third goal of the game. Pearce Dolan caught the ball from the throw-in, and sliced through the Sligo defence before handpassing across the square to Shane Moran who palmed to the net.
Referee Maurice Deegan appeared happy with the goal, but his umpires were more uncertain, and after a brief consultation the goal was wrongly disallowed for a square ball.
“How do you decide which umpire you’re going with? Why do you not go with the attacking team?”
Andy Moran reflects on the disallowed goal early in extra time as a big moment in his @LeitrimGAA team’s penalty defeat to @sligogaa
Full report at: https://t.co/QoQLJoL9bD pic.twitter.com/ILAr0c5cnz
— FinalWhistle.ie (@FinalWhistleIE) June 5, 2022
"This will hurt Leitrim," former Dublin football Ciaran Whelan said on The Sunday Game.
"Shane Moran is standing outside [the square] when the ball comes across from Pearce Dolan. He was standing on the edge of the square.
"He caught the kickout at the start of extra-time. It was a brilliant, brilliant run. The umpires consulted, and ruled it was a square ball.
'Leitrim will look back on that and feel aggrieved'
"We know how important a goal in extra-time is. It nearly will close out the game for you. They will look back on that as a [disappointing] decision.
"If it's borderline, you would generally feel that it's given. He was clearly outside the square. Leitrim will look back on that and feel aggrieved, no doubt about that."
Speaking to the media following the game, Leitrim manager Andy Moran said: "When one umpire is going for the flag and one umpire says that could be a square ball, how do you decide which umpire you go with? Why do you not go with the attacking team?"
In the semi-finals of the Tailteann Cup, which will be played at Croke Park on June 19th, Sligo will face Cavan, and Offaly will play Westmeath.
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