Referee assaulted after Tullamore’s defeat in Leinster club championship

A Tullamore player is facing a two-year suspension after Dublin referee Barry Tiernan was pushed to the ground at the conclusion of the club’s controversial defeat by Summerhill of Meath in Sunday’s Leinster club first-round match in O’Connor Park.

The player, who wasn’t involved in the match, was seen on social media approaching the referee afterwards and pushing him to the ground before walking away. In the rule book the recently upgraded punishment for assaulting a match official is a ban of 96 weeks – whether the assault is perpetrated by a player or a supporter.

Tullamore’s defeat ended in controversy when, as they trailed Summerhill by two, Tiernan awarded them a free, which he then, on consultation with his umpires, changed to a penalty. As Paul McConway prepared to take the kick, there was jostling with Summerhill players.

Before the kick was taken, the referee was further advised by a linesman and again reversed his decision, awarding Tullamore the free as originally decided, which allowed their opponents to line the goalmouth. John Furlong’s free was blocked.

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The matter is likely to be investigated once the referee’s report is received.

Elsewhere on the field of play, All-Ireland champions Kilmacud Crokes had an emphatic win in the Dublin county final, beating Ballyboden St Enda’s by eight points, 1-14 to 0-9.

It is the first time they have won three successive titles and the first time the feat has been achieved since Na Fianna in 2001.

“It’s pretty special,” said their manager Robbie Brennan. “It’s never been done in the club – I don’t think we’ve ever been in three finals in a row so to get it done is pretty special. Na Fianna, Thomas Davis and before that I can’t remember, the Vincent’s or the O’Toole’s teams. It probably hasn’t sunk in but it’s pretty special.”

High point of the afternoon was a dynamite finish by Shane Walsh in the 40th minute, which effectively shut the door on Ballyboden, doubling the lead to six.

It was vindication for the champions, who had been showing signs of a long time on the road, having contested the past two All-Ireland finals, losing the first to Kilcoo with the last kick of the match.

They returned earlier this year to defeat Glen, from Derry, a win that became shrouded in controversy when their opponents objected to the outcome as Crokes had inadvertently fielded an extra player at the end of the match when making a substitution.

Brennan said that some players were considering taking time out to travel once the county championship had concluded and he wasn’t sure about the strength of his panel for the upcoming Leinster championship opener against Éire Óg.

“We’ll see does that change any opinions but there was definitely a few lined up and always had been lined up to head off after Dublin and they stayed around for that so there are conversations to be had.”

The big hurling final of the day was in Clare where Clonlara defeated Crusheen to win a first county title since 2008. With such players as John Conlon – the only hurler from 15 years ago still playing for the club – and Ian Galvin on board, they were firm favourites and despite a third quarter wobble were never reeled in and with won by 3-18 to 2-16 in the end.

It was a most welcome win for a team over whom the cloud of underachievement hovered.

“We were hearing that for years,” said manager Michael O’Loughlin, “but there were never any fingers pointed and we always had an incredibly strong bond in our team and that was often questioned by other people when they were looking in.

“‘What’s going on in Clonlara? What are they doing down there?’ I heard someone in Clare make a comment recently that ‘it depends what side of the bed Clonlara get out of’ and that drove us on a bit.”

The Kildare football final was played in the novel surroundings of Netwatch Cullen Park in Carlow because of renovations to Newbridge. Champions Naas became the first club since Sarsfields in the 1950s to win three-in-a-row county titles.

It also capped another double for the club, just a week after they had lifted the Kildare hurling title.

Darragh Kirwan scored four from play, including the insurance point during nine minutes of injury-time, starred for Naas in the 0-13 to 0-11 win over Celbridge.

Winning manager Joe Murphy, a Leinster winner in his playing days with Éire Óg, didn’t have far to travel as he lives around the corner from the venue.

“I wouldn’t have been allowed back in the town if that hadn’t worked out,” was his reaction.

Also in Kildare, in the intermediate final, county playing legend Johnny Doyle turned back the clock with an outstanding display for Allenwood in their win over Castledermot – at the age of 45.

In Ulster, three big football championships were decided with familiar names coming out on top. Scotstown in Monaghan claimed a seventh title since 2013 in their 11th straight final, defeating Inniskeen 0-17 to 0-14 in Clones whereas in Armagh and Donegal, there were victories for Crossmaglen and Naomh Conaill.

On Saturday, Ireland’s hurlers returned to winning ways in the hurling-shinty international series, defeating Scotland 0-22 to 2-8 in Newry for a first win since 2014, leaving captain Neil McManus to lift the exotically named Mowi Quaich.