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'By the letter of the law, it was the correct decision, but the letter of the law is wrong'

One of the moments of controversy from yesterday's Munster Hurling Championship encounter between...



'By the letter of the law,...
Football

'By the letter of the law, it was the correct decision, but the letter of the law is wrong'

One of the moments of controversy from yesterday's Munster Hurling Championship encounter between Clare and Limerick was the red card handed to Limerick's Seanie Tobin.

Only on the pitch for a matter of seconds, the player was removed from the field of play for an innocuous-looking clash with the Banner's Patrick O'Connor.

Tobin's team-mate Shane Dowling joined us on Off The Ball to talk about his own team's win and he was not enamoured by the decision to send off his colleague.

"By the letter of the law, it was the correct decision, but the letter of the law, I think is wrong," he said. 

"I said it yesterday, Brendan Bugler got done for it against Wexford. It wasn't a red card for me. I got done for it against Offaly and mine wasn't half as bad as Seanie's yesterday. It's a bit of buttin' and a bit of shoulderin'. The easy decision there would have been to come in and tell the lads to cop on, puck the ball out and get on with it. It would be different if he took his head off or something and I don't  blame Colm Lyons. I blame the hierarchy for that rule that was brought in."

He also made a point about the style of the Clare team in terms of the foul count and on-pitch discipline.

"That's the way they play and that's the way they've been coached. If it works, more power to them. But when players do that, frees can be given away a bit more," he said.

Meanwhile, as Limerick bask in the glory of defeating Clare yesterday to advance to a semi-final against Tipperary, Dowling admits the reputation of their team as a championship one is true.

But when he pondered the reason why that form is rarely seen in the league, he told Off The Ball that it is a mystery - even to them.

"We prepare as much as we can for the league and we train hard but my honest answer is I don't know why we can't perform in the league. It's something that we need to look at and we've tried to do this year - it didn't work - but ultimately every player wants to play championship and maybe players perform better when the championship comes."

 

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