Referees at centre stage once again

Clare county chairman Robert Frost has declined to comment on allegations that he contacted the Munster Council secretary, Donie Nealon, at half-time during Sunday's Munster hurling semi-final in Thurles to complain about the referee.

According to a Munster council source, Frost approached Nealon at half-time to take issue with some of the decisions of Tipperary referee Willie Barrett. Nealon, who was not available for comment yesterday as he was engaged in preparations in Killarney for Sunday week's Munster football clash between Kerry and Cork, declined to take the matter any further.

Contacted about the issue, Frost told The Irish Times: "I have no comment to make." Pressed as to whether that referred to the alleged incident or the standard of refereeing, he again replied: "I have no comment to make on either of those things."

The matter was taken no further in the aftermath of the match, which Clare won convincingly to reach the Munster final.

Ironically, it was Cork who seemed most vexed by one of Barrett's decisions, the award of a free against Pat Ryan in the 63rd minute for overholding, which led to a point from a long-range free by Anthony Daly.

Sunday was a day of complaints about referees, with defeated Dublin manager Tom Carr critical of the severity of the officiating by Galway referee Michael Curley. Eleven players were booked and two, Dublin's captain Dessie Farrell and Kildare's Anthony Rainbow, sent off.

The removal of Dublin from the title race means that the county will have missed two successive Leinster finals for the first time in a quarter of a century. It also bridged another couple of historical gaps: Kildare recorded their first win over Dublin since 1972, and it was the first time since 1981 (Laois) that a county other than Meath has defeated Dublin.

Meath selector Frank Foley said that, whereas he was surprised at the elimination of the county's old rivals, the degree of his surprise was only "a little bit".

"The logic of the first day was that Kildare were the better team and that they should win. Kildare didn't score an awful lot, weren't as prolific as they might have been."

Foley confirmed that Meath would be at full strength for Sunday's Leinster semi-final against Louth. Since their awesome destruction of league winners Offaly in the first round at the end of last month, Meath have been able to step back from the spotlight as the Dublin-Kildare draw and replay claimed the attention of the public.

"We've had an uneventful few weeks," he says, "not as pressurised as before the Offaly match which was a big, all-or-nothing affair. The Louth match is as important but the hype isn't as big, because we've no recent history with Louth the way we had with Offaly."

The counties haven't met at senior championship level in 10 years, since Meath beat their neighbours in Drogheda on a day when Brendan Reilly, then a teenager, made his debut but was so badly injured that it took him two years to resurface on the team.

In Ulster, the big match will be the semi-final meeting of Derry and Armagh, conquerors of Down in the first round last Sunday week. Armagh have only one injury concern, wing forward Cathal O'Rourke who injured his leg in the last round.

According to county secretary Patrick Nugent, "Cathal is not definitely out. He trained over the weekend and came through his physical work, but the session didn't involve a lot of football."

Opponents Derry still have worries about Gary Coleman and Fergal McCusker, both nursing hamstring injuries, but both will be in the shake-up.

The victory of Derry's hurlers over defending Ulster champions Down on Sunday at Casement Park was a huge achievement and qualifies the county for a first provincial hurling final since 1931, when they were beaten 4-10 to 0-1 by next month's opponents Antrim.

Derry have actually won two Ulster hurling titles. The first, in 1903, was won conventionally enough with a win over Antrim, but the second in 1909 (although for the 1908 title) was a more unusual pairing against Cavan, played at Corrigan Park Belfast.

According to Gerry Donnelly, who has made a study of the period, "in those days, Derry city to Belfast was a two-day camel ride and they must have come from far and wide - probably on assisted passage - to witness this match."