Things got very heated at the end of the Clare-Waterford clash in the Munster Championship at Cusack Park in Ennis yesterday.
After fighting back from behind to get level, Davy Fitz's men were ultimately defeated by a point after an injury time point from Mark Rodgers from a controversial 65 call. Davy and his coaching team stormed the pitch after the final whistle and surrounded the referee arguing about the decisive play.
Dónal Óg Cusack was very quick to come to the aid of James Owens, umpire after Clare were awarded a late 65 to snatch a victory against Waterford
Speaking on the Sunday Game, the All-Ireland winning goalkeeper believed that was full of praise for the man in the white jacket.
The game reached a frantic point. If you like Tony Kelly, hit a free from a long distance, probably when Tadhg De Burca looks back on this and it easy talk he would have been better leaving the ball out,
While we're often quick to critique officials, even in slow motion, it's a daunting task to determine who the ball went out from.
Yet, a closer look at Tadhg De Bruca’s hurley reveals the immense pressure the umpire was under. In a high-stakes situation, he made the right call, and that's truly commendable.
Cusack was also quick to warn that any more full-time scenes like what we witnessed today after the game could bring the end of fans being allowed onto the pitch after games and blamed ‘childish behaviour’ from both Waterford and Clare management teams.
It's disappointing the management teams must take responsibility for it,
Davy must take responsibility for it, and Clare's management must take responsibility for it. I was talking to Peter Canavan a while ago. Everyone remembers the scenes when their county is on the field. I remember him lifting the All-Ireland title and all of the Tyrone people.
The scenes that came out of Cork last week are powerful to see young and old being so happy it's worth a fortune to the GAA.
The danger is if this kind of stuff keeps going, the GAA will probably be forced to act because there's pressure with the likes of insurance and stuff like that, and that type of immature, childish behaviour will ruin it for everybody.
‘The umpire got it 100% right…We don’t want to see these scenes’ - @DonalOgC and @Neilmcmanus88 says people need to take responsibility for the ‘childish behaviour’ at the end of Clare v Waterford game pic.twitter.com/aRQCCQ4gjN
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) May 19, 2024
Scenes like Davy Fitz storming up to the referee is not what we want to see in the GAA and hopefully this doesn't become a regular occurrence across the country.
READ MORE: Joe Canning Had Theory On What Caused Ugly Davy Fitzgerald Scenes After Clare-Waterford
