NEWS ROUND-UP:THE MUNSTER Council will investigate "as a matter of urgency" the unruly scenes that developed at the climax of Wednesday evening's under-21 hurling final in Ennis.
Having received the report of the match referee yesterday, the Council will now call on both competing counties, Tipperary and Clare, to give their account of events.
What had been a highly entertaining game of hurling turned extremely sour when Tipperary secured a one-point victory late on, following a controversial free.
With the scores level and a minute remaining, Clare were first awarded a free in front of the Tipperary posts, but match referee Jason O'Mahony of Limerick was then summoned to the other end of the field by one of his umpires, who pointed out the Clare goalkeeper Donal Tuohy had marginally stepped outside the small square on the preceding puck-out.
O'Mahony duly cancelled the Clare free and awarded Tipperary a 65-metre free. This was sent over the bar by Pa Bourke to land Tipperary the victory, and with that all hell broke loose.
A crowd of Clare supporters ran onto the pitch and attempted to confront the referee, his linesmen and umpires. Over a dozen gardaí reacted quickly to escort the officials from the field.
Part of the issue, it seems, is that Tuohy was penalised for a similar puck-out infringement in the first half, again when it had been brought to the referee's attention, albeit by a different umpire.
Such infringements are rarely penalised in championship hurling.
Munster Council press officer Jim Forbes said the investigation would take place as soon as reasonably possible, and a statement issued yesterday evening underlined how seriously they are taking the matter: "The Munster Council view the incidents which took place in Cusack Park, Ennis, at the end of the Munster Under-21 hurling championship final between Tipperary and Clare with concern.
"The report of the referee has been received by Munster Council. This report will be examined in detail by the Competitions Control Committee (CCC) of the Council, as a matter of urgency.
"It is planned to convene a meeting of this body within the next couple of days and the Council will issue no further statement until this meeting has taken place."
Clare have never won a Munster under-21 title, which no doubt contributed to the grievances of their supporters. Many of them booed the presentation ceremony and remained on the field for some 45 minutes protesting.
The Clare county board called their own emergency meeting last night, and press officer Syl O'Connor predicted various recommendations would be made as a result of that.
"No one associated with Clare hurling could condone what went on at the end of Wednesday's game," he said. "But there are a number of issues here - what happened on the field, and what happened off of it - and while they are clearly related, they are quite different too.
"As bad as things were at the end, I think some things are being taken out of context. Like there has been the suggestion that there was tension in Cusack Park from 5.30 that evening, which is clearly a load of rubbish considering the ground wasn't opened until 6.10.
"Of course there is huge rivalry between Clare and Tipperary. We came out of Thurles last Sunday very disappointed (when the senior team lost to Cork), but Wednesday was all about frustration. Most people would agree that 99 per cent of the GAA rules make sense, but the inconsistency in applying them is what's most frustrating. The reality is you can get penalised for one thing one day, and not the next."
While the prospects of a refixture seem remote, the content of the referee's report - coupled with the Munster Council's investigation - is certain to result in the matter being revisited in some form, with penalties also likely.
Meanwhile, the GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) has found itself in another fixture controversy over the intention to stage only two of next weekend's four All-Ireland football quarter-finals in Croke Park.
It has already been confirmed that Dublin will be given a stand-alone fixture on Saturday week, August 9th, and Cork will play the following day along with the Cork hurlers, in their All-Ireland hurling semi-final against Kilkenny.
This means Ulster champions Armagh and Connacht champions Galway will be sent to a provincial venue for their quarter-finals, which not surprisingly, hasn't gone down well with their managers.
The CCCC won't officially confirm the venues until after this weekend's third-round qualifiers, but chairman Jimmy Dunne has indicated the reason those four games were set for Croke Park was because it would not be available for all four quarter-finals.
The only option open to the CCCC in getting the Armagh-Galway quarter-finals into Croke Park is to put them back a week, to August 16th/17th, although that might entail further problems should any replays be required.
Meanwhile, Dublin forward Tomás Quinn says his team aren't worried about who they'll meet, even if it happens to be Kerry.
"We'd be ready for that challenge," he says. "If we are to win the title we will have to face any one of three top teams at different stages and whether we play them now or in the semi-final or final we will have to measure up."
