The events from the weekend's Munster hurling clash between Cork and Clare shed light on the issue of sliothar variations and the ensuing gamesmanship that can be caused by the lack of uniformity in ball design.
Former Cork hurler and current Clare selector Donal Og Cuscak has been on the end of gamesmanship before in his playing days which he recalled on Off The Ball in part of an in-depth chat with Ger.
Cusack himself preferred Cummins Sliothars and every goalkeeper had their own favourite.
"Every goalkeeper that I would have known or would have been involved with would have a preference around there's," he said.
"You go down through the history of the game and I can remember back to my Minor days. I can remember before we played a Minor All Ireland final being told that we had to use a Donnelly Sliothar was the name. I remember the rims on it were massive and I remember being so upset that... 'Do people not realise what impact this could have on the game?' Because it's such a critical thing and I actually remember going into the goals that day and a guy coming to try and take the bag of sliothars off me, both in the first half and in the second half because I was using my own.
"I remember with 10 minutes to go, I actually gave him the bag and said 'Do what you want'". But incredibly four years later, again you're going to use your own sliothars - standard practice really - I went back into the net and my bag that I'd put the sliothars into had actually been turned inside out.
"I found it very strange and said to the umpires, 'What's the story there?' They said, 'Do you see that guy over there in the jacket? He came over and emptied the pile of sliothars out onto the ground, turned the bag inside out and put all the sliothars back into it.' I remember going over - it was the same gent - and I just reminded him that I wasn't a Minor anymore and he wouldn't be getting them today."
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