Richie Hogan believes he should not have been sent-off late in the first half of Sunday's All-Ireland final between Kilkenny and Tipperary.
"I watched it back there this morning - I stayed away from it earlier on - but I was going in for a shoulder on Cathal Barrett, he stepped inside and my momentum took me through," the Kilkenny man said on Off The Ball on Tuesday evening.
"In my opinion, there was absolutely no way it was a sending-off.
"It was clear as day to anyone at the match, what I was trying to do.
"Cathal Barrett picked up the ball and he was heading down the line. As he often does, he changes direction and cuts inside.
"The first thing I thought was to get back and get after the ball. Then when I turned around and saw him on the ground I thought 'It's a free'.
"I was complaining about getting a yellow card, to be perfectly honest with you, because it was one of those clearly accidental, honest challenges.
"I just assumed that he was taking [out] the wrong card, to be honest with you. He stopped for a long time and came back. I said, 'Right, I'm going to have to get a yellow card here and will have to be careful for the rest of the game'. Then he took out the red and I was just amazed."
Hogan said he's sure that referee James Owens told him his infraction was a "late challenge".
He added that in his view, hurling is "an incredibly difficult game to referee" and that he places no blame on either Owens or Barrett.
"Somebody said to me yesterday that they were talking about an elbow; any talk about an elbow there is absolutely crazy, my elbow does not connect with him at all - my shoulder absolutely does," continued Hogan.
They spoke about your arm not being down by your side. This is not Irish dancing.
We have hurleys in our hands - how do we hold a 36-inch long hurley if your arm is not bent?
My technique in shouldering was absolutely right - I just didn't hit his shoulder. I actually lean down and in with my shoulder and his head is down there because he has taken a sidestep. You're talking about split-second stuff. You're really splitting hairs.
18 minutes prior to Hogan being red carded, he had briefly left the pitch due to a blood injury. That was the result of a challenge from Barrett whose hurling made contact with Hogan's nose.
"Cathal Barrett's challenge on me was not a red card," said Hogan.
"I was in possession of the ball and he went to flick the ball away, he missed it and hit me in the face. It's a free - sometimes it's a yellow card, sometimes it isn't.
"I was completely calm after that [challenge]. Nobody would be talking about Cathal Barrett's challenge if I didn't get sent-off later on. Nobody would be talking about my incident if I wasn't sent-off.
"Attacking somebody with an elbow is a dirty challenge and that's not in my game."
Hogan added that had Kilkenny won on Sunday, it would have been a nice way to sign off on his career but will now do 'whatever he can' to play another year of inter-county hurling.
Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
