Limerick have no regrets over pursuing Hawk-Eye case all the way to DRA

Limerick have no regrets about the county’s challenge to the outcome of last month’s All-Ireland minor semi-final against Galway, which was based on a malfunction of the GAA’s new score detection system, Hawk-Eye in disallowing a valid score in the opening moments of the match at Croke Park.

Yesterday the county accepted that it had run out of road in relation to the issue after the decision by the GAA’s independent arbitration tribunal the DRA not to overturn decisions by the Central Competitions Control Committee and the Central Appeals Committee, dismissing the objection.

At Monday night’s meeting in Tullamore the Disputes Resolution Committee, chaired by barrister Aaron Shearer, held that the CCCC had been correct to preclude itself from hearing any objection based on a disputed score under Rule 7.10 (n).

This was in keeping with a previous decision of the DRA in a 2005 case also involving Limerick, in that case a club from the county, Fr Casey’s, which held that a referee’s decision in relation to a score must stand even if it was subsequently shown to be incorrect and an injustice done to one of the teams.

County chair Oliver Mann said in response to the DRA determination, which finally cleared the way for next Sunday's minor final to proceed: "I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever. I think we owed it to everybody involved to explore every avenue available to us within the GAA system. I would be very regretful if we had done nothing."

Meanwhile Galway minor manager Matt Murphy said that the controversy surrounding the matter had not disrupted preparations for the weekend's final against Waterford.

“What we did is we prepared for the next game,” he said. “That’s all we could do. In our eyes, there was always going to be a next game for us anyway. Whatever was going to be was going to be. My mantra always is that you worry about the things you can control and forget about the things you can’t.

“ You’d have no quality of life if you were going around wondering about the ‘what ifs’.

“ I can guarantee you that we won’t be using this as an excuse. We didn’t let it interfere with our preparations in any way.”