It appears that somebody up there doesn't like this year's Guinness hurling championship. Overshadowed by football for the summer, the ancient game finally got a high-profile weekend to itself with an eagerly-awaited and unexpectedly competitive replay in prospect.
Instead, the weather turned on Saturday's Tipperary-Wexford semi-final. Rain fell so steadily for the day in Croke Park that you could have shot Angela's Ashes in an afternoon.
If the slipping and sliding and treacherous conditions weren't enough, referee Pat Horan had the unhappy duty of showing red cards to three players. The two Wexford players dismissed were their most experienced defender, Liam Dunne, and their top scoring forward from the drawn match, Michael Jordan. From these moments just before half-time, the match was dead in the plentiful water.
The red cards undermined Wexford completely but also will deprive Tipperary of Brian O'Meara's physical presence for the All-Ireland final. Horan came in for some criticism afterwards. His actions constituted a bit of an irony in that mutterings had been heard from Wexford that the succession of Munster referees for their matches against teams from that province wasn't entirely satisfactory.
So in steps Mr Horan from Offaly - well known in Wexford for leaving them a man short in the All-Ireland final of five years ago - and sends off two of their players. Jordan's dismissal for a wild pull on Paul Kelly was inevitable. He had already been booked early in the match - although his second offence received a straight red. But the double sending-off of Dunne and O'Meara was judged at the time to be harsh.
Whether this was a draconian over-reaction by the referee depends on how you judge the sight on live television of two players digging each other with their hurls. Maybe Horan could have turned a blind eye - metaphorically as well as literally, given that his attention was drawn to the incident by a linesman - but the rules aren't ambiguous on the subject of striking with the hurl. There had been a hint of nastiness creeping into proceedings before this happened, although the match wasn't remotely as scabrous as three red cards might suggest, and on video review it's hard to say that the referee was wrong.
Tipperary will have reason to reflect ruefully on the loss of O'Meara. The same linesman, Carlow's Pat Ahern, also ran the line in Tipp's Munster semi-final clash with Clare 11 weeks ago. His advice to Dickie Murphy in the first minute led to two yellow cards, one for an astonished Mark O'Leary, who had spent those opening seconds being flaked all around the place, and the other for his assailant Gerry Quinn.
Whatever about the epiphany of Mr Ahern, the match never recovered from the stringent law enforcement. Wexford didn't deserve an 11-point gutting but, even all present, they weren't going to win this. There were decisive power shifts from the drawn match.
Firstly Tipperary's full backs tightened up considerably. Full back Philip Maher restored normal service and the avalanche of route-one goals that had revived Wexford six days previously never looked like re-occurring.
Secondly, Wexford never managed to rebuild the platform that had operated so effectively at the end of the first match. Larry O'Gorman was unable to repeat his heroics of the drawn encounter and ended up being substituted. If the half backs took a tenacious grip in the second quarter, circumstances weren't to allow that to continue.
To these changed influences can be added the sendings-off and Tipp's efficient use of the extra man. Paul Kelly patrolled the defence, reading the ball perfectly and whipping constructive deliveries into his attack.
There was mixed news for Tipperary in attack. Eoin Kelly was really good, adding to his swelling reputation with precise free-taking and his best display to date in open play - three points and a sublime assist for Eugene O'Neill's first goal. O'Neill's renewed confidence is good news for Nicholas English but the bad news was that Declan Ryan was completely subdued by his namesake Darragh and once again Lar Corbett struggled.
John Carroll copperfastened his conversion to the 40 with another goal and a display in which he looked one of the most technically competent on the pitch. The goal came in the 10th minute when he powered through the middle like a turbo-charged tractor and kicked to the net for the first score of the afternoon.
Wexford defended well in the matter of winning ball but clearances frequently went astray. Doc O'Connor gave another cracking performance - until the distorted nature of the second half left Wexford too exposed - but too much of his ball was landing on top of Rory McCarthy, whose best game is based on breaks rather than dropping ball.
Leading by six points, 1-4 to 0-1, by the 20th minute, Tipperary fell away and conceded a flow of points. Gary Laffan, a late call-up for Ger Coleman, was prominent in a number of them while Paul Codd had his best game of the campaign for Wexford. Codd added a couple of points from play - including a super long-range attempt before half time - to steady free-taking. A cheeky attempt at goal from a close-in free in the 31st minute ended in a 65 that he pointed anyway.
But the interval came with the game largely up for Wexford. Short the dismissed players and facing a good wind a point adrift, they did what they could. Freed from the restrictive full forward berth, under-21 captain Nicky Lambert won some good ball at centrefield and covered oceans of ground as his team made futile assaults on the deficit. O'Neill's 43rd-minute goal pushed the margin to seven and despite much huffing and puffing Wexford weren't able to get back into business.
The last move of the match saw Eamonn Corcoran find O'Neill and he finished to the net. But it had been over a lot earlier than that.
