The Galway hurling final panned out as expected yesterday. By which we mean it was played out in god-awful conditions and ended in a violent brawl.
The 2012-13 All-Ireland champions St. Thomas's beat Gort by four points in a very low-scoring game.
Those who only pay attention to hurling when an 'OMG video' goes viral will remember St. Thomas's last county final victory in 2012.
It was in the closing stages of that game when Loughrea's Johnny Maher, already known as a legendary hard chaw within Galway hurling circles, became a nationwide household name.
We make no apologies for casting our eyes back to that famous video, when Maher started flaying every Thomas's player within range of his hurl.
What amuses most these days is not that Johnny didn't get punished at all by the referee (though that is funny), it is that his demeanor suggested that he had no fear of getting punished.
Usually when a hurler gives an opponent a dig in the private parts, he flashes a few furtive and nervous glances at the referee, making sure the man in black hasn't seen the incident. He generally tries to shrink into the background.
Johnny not only didn't do this, he actually stepped forward and nailed the penalty himself and proceeded to celebrate by throwing a few more digs at opposition players.
All under the nose of referee Eoin O'Shaughnessy, who appeared to have given Maher some bizarre immunity from prosecution.
As a piece of refereeing WTF-ery, it ranks up there with Martin Sludden agreeing that Joe Sheridan's goal was perfect. Luckily, the consequences were less disastrous. Loughrea still lost the match.
Naturally, one of the top comments under the video of the incident is lamenting that Johnny was never given a proper chance in the maroon. He might have gone on and put manners on Jackie Tyrrell.
Leonard Fay, the referee in yesterday's Galway final, was rather more stringent in his application of the rules. Although, like any self-respecting Galway ref, he did take a dim view of lads of rolling around, "crying for frees".
With time running out and the game clearly gone beyond Gort, their corner back Tadhg Linnane (he is a son of you-know-who) appeared determined to leave his mark on the opposition.
Even before the major incident, Linnane was booked for this on the 56th minute. He was at pains to point out he was going for the ball.
Whether that's true or not, the referee appeared a bit discomforted by Linnane's axe-wielding pose and gave him a yellow card for recklessness.
A few minutes later, the inevitable happened. Linnane was sent off after a brawl, alongside Thomas's Gerald Kelly.
During the 90s and noughties, the central complaint about the Galway senior hurlers was that there was an over-proliferation of small, skillful hurlers who were too easily bullied. In layman's terms, they were too soft. This is not reflected in their club championship.
Michael Duignan's coached Portumna for a couple of seasons at the turn of the decade. He's been banging this drum for a while.
Sportstalk.ie
