Derry champions Glen have asked the GAA to review an incident at the end of Sunday’s All-Ireland club football final. In the last play of the match, Kilmacud Crokes had 16 players on the pitch. The extra man was Dara Mullin, who had been replaced by Conor Casey just before a 45 was taken.
The kick was awarded after a point-blank Conor Ferris save from Conor Glass. In the picture, widely circulated on social media, Mullin can be seen standing on the line. He doesn’t touch the ball, which breaks to Glen’s Conleth McGuckian who shoots narrowly wide without getting a deflection, which might have sent it into the net.
The matter was raised at the post-match media conferences but there was no indication that an objection to the outcome would be lodged.
Later on Sunday night, however, the club issued a statement stating that it would seek clarification from the GAA on the matter.
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Barry Slowey, club chair, said: “We have been made aware that potentially a rule was broken, and the club will be seeking clarification from the GAA on it.”
Earlier, the Derry champions’ manager Malachy O’Rourke had been asked about the 16th man.
“Yeah, we can do nothing about that but it obviously does make a difference the more men they have in there. The harder it is for us to get a score out of it and I think we did ask the fourth official to get the free (45) retaken but it didn’t happen.”
Asked further whether he thought an objection would be lodged, he gave a personal answer.
“I can’t speak for the club or anything else but I don’t think that’s how the club operates. We had our chances. We gave it our best shot. Look it, that shouldn’t happen. I can’t speak for the club but I just think we’ll accept we got beat on the day.”
Kilmacud manager Robbie Brennan said that the player had just been slow leaving the field. “No, I think Dara Mullin was coming off, at 14. I think he was just taking his time to be honest with you – probably that oul’ cynical word of killing the clock, so he was always coming.
“There was just John [Gilmartin, the fourth official] said he’s not off yet, so wait, wait, wait. That’s all we are kind of aware of on it at the minute.”
The rules on exceeding the permitted number of players, is 6.44. This refers to both fielding too many substitutes as well as having more than 15 players on the pitch.
In the past these offences caused a great deal of controversy and the penalty was an unyielding automatic forfeiture. That was generally mitigated into the aggrieved team offering a rematch.
The current rule, though, offers three possible penalties: forfeiture, a rematch or a fine “depending on circumstances”. Kilmacud will feel that Mullin had no role in what happened and never touched the ball whereas Glen can argue that an extra body on the line has an influence on where the kick goes.
In the semi-final, coincidentally, Mullin stopped a punched effort at goal in the final seconds of the match against Kerins O’Rahilly’s.
In the Mayo-Dublin All-Ireland semi-final of 2021, a Mayo 45, which had been missed by Rob Hennelly was ordered to be retaken because Mayo had 16 players on the field. He made no mistake the second time and took the match to extra time, which saw Dublin’s six-year run as champions ended.
Dublin’s Charlie Redmond remained on the field for about 30 seconds in the 1995 All-Ireland final after being sent off. Tyrone opted not to object.
It will be up to the authorities to decide whether the breach had a material impact and which penalty is most appropriate, should an objection be lodged.
The matter will probably be deliberated on this week once the referee’s report is received.
