Wexford and Derry fuming after controversial decisions

THE standard of GAA officiating has been catapulted straight back into the spotlight after a weekend which saw the Wexford footballers and Derry manager John Brennan raging against key calls against their teams.

A succession of Wexford footballers -- in both post-match interviews and on Twitter -- have slammed the decision of Longford referee Derek Fahy to rule that Ian Ryan's last-gasp free was a winning Limerick point, despite conflicting signals by his two umpires behind the goal in Portlaoise.

Earlier on Saturday afternoon, Brennan had launched a furious broadside against the "Sergeant Major" attitude of several inter-county referees -- and claimed that officiating standards may drive him away from the Derry hotseat.

The Oak Leaf boss was left fuming over another key call going against his team -- this time a first half Enda Muldoon 'goal' disallowed for square ball.

Slow-motion TV replays suggested that Muldoon was marginally inside before the ball arrived in the square via a Mark Lynch pass, while you could equally argue that Syl Doyle's call was not a defining moment given Kildare's eventual six-point winning margin.

But the same cannot be said of Fahy's decision (a) to award Limerick a soft free deep in injury-time and (b) to conclude that Ryan's match-winning free had crossed inside the left upright.

TV replays last night proved inconclusive. They also showed that Fahy was well-positioned to read the ball's flight but, of his two umpires, the one with the better view originally signalled wide while the umpire at the far post waved for a point.

Wexford goalkeeper Anthony Masterson led the onslaught of criciticm, claiming Fahy was "the world's worst referee and he still gets to referee GAA matches." Social netword site, Twitter, was also buzzing with angry Wexford tweets. Wing-back Adrian Flynn described it as a "shocking decision" and alleged the embattled Longford whistler was the "worst ref in the country" while teammate Adrian Morrissey responded by saying he should be "struck off" the inter-county panel and that umpires and referees were ruining games.

Intriguingly, colleague Ben Brosnan tweeted to say he thought it was a point but that it wasn't a free in the first place.

Back in Croke Park, Brennan's fury over big penalty calls that went against Derry in the Ulster final was compounded by Muldoon's goal-that-wasn't.

"Honestly, I am frustrated and annoyed all year," he complained. "If that is proven there that we were denied a goal, then I will think very seriously about my future.

"I love the GAA but if they are going to deny us a legitimate score ... I don't mind a point but these goals, I find that very hard to take."

The veteran club coach described the standard of officiating in his first year as a senior inter-county boss as "completely inconsistent"; he also took exception to their on-field attitude towards players and management.

"They are not God Almighty," he argued, before imploring referees to "talk to me as a man" and to tell players during games that "if you are going to do that, you are going to get ticked."

Instead, he likened their demeanour to that of a Sergeant Major barking out instructions along the lines of "You come over here, boy!"

"I'm disillusioned with football at this moment in time and unless I can see that we are allowed to speak as managers and allowed to meet so called 'officialdom' ... I feel belittled by putting a team out and nobody is going to belittle me," he concluded.

- Frank Roche