So what is it we want? Do we want lawless hurling, or just light-touch hurling?

The 42

a day ago

BEFORE WE START, let's do what Jim Gavin did with the Football Review Committee and ask not what we want from hurling refereeing, but what kind of game we want and go from there.
The latest game under the microscope is the Munster hurling final.
If we were to apply rules strictly, it would have been a mess.
Left as it was, it was a free-ridden contest, minus the frees.
At the very start, Ethan Twomey and Tim O'Mahony were up against Will O'Donoghue and Adam English.
Before referee Thomas Walsh threw the ball in, O'Mahony and O'Donoghue were going at it. A big shoulder. Another. Another. O'Donoghue put his two hands on O'Mahony, trying to shove him out of the way.
Almost everyone in hurling believes this kind of start to a game as a 'good thing.' A means to get the blood flowing and the dander up.
And almost without fail, the referee throws the ball in fast. Because the repercussions would have it that the referee 'lost control' by not throwing the ball in.
The fight that broke into a hurling match is a trope as old as time itself.
But take a step back. Is it not a bit mad that most games start in this way? That because of mayhem breaking loose the referee needs to make the game alive?
So much of hurling is visually gorgeous. But the prolonged rucks that flare up if a puckout is not caught clean are a wart on the Mona Lisa.
Because in that jungle anything goes and what goes on is maybe hard for the naked eye to see. But there's a world of players holding each other's hurls and chopping down.
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Is hurling lawless, or just laissez-faire?
If it's the second, then it causes problems when you pass the game on to children.
Here's a typical coaching pathway; you start with the grip of your hurl/hurley. Then move on to moving the ball on the ground with dribbling and pulling on it.
The next stage is where you get the big wins; lifting and striking. In generations gone by this could take time and become a frustration, but the amount of equipment now available to juveniles along with the various shared coaching methods and wall balls makes it a pleasure.
Then comes coaching the tackle. And one of the first things you do is to rule out all chopping. That's because a child that gets a rattle on their knuckles in their first weeks of hurling coaching might never be seen again.
Yet one glance at a top intercounty game will see numerous abuses of this rule.
Darragh Fitzgibbon lends a hand to Adam English. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO
Back to events in the Gaelic Grounds. After three and a half minutes, Diarmaid Byrnes sent a ball down the right wing to Aaron Gillane. He cut inside his marker and headed for goal until Rob Downey chopped down on Gillane's upper arm around his bicep.
The ball squirted loose. The crowd cheered. 'No foul whatsoever,' whooped Marty Morrissey on the television commentary.
On the ground, Gillane tried a roll lift and Downey stepped across him, using the free hand to push Gillane in the chest while he scooped the ball up for himself.
'Listen to the roar from the Rebels,' trilled Morrissey.
Yeah. I get it. A man's sport. Yadda yadda.
Referee 'Tyler' Walsh's style of game management left both managers fuming by half time. Both sides went to state their cases and in the mayhem, some backroom members got a little over-zealous towards the other.
HT - Limerick 1-10 Cork 1-14
Cork management unhappy with some of the referring decisions, Limerick management unhappy that Cork sought to let referee Thomas Walsh know at the whistle, lead to this. Strong wind with Limerick in the second-half. #GAA pic.twitter.com/SiGZenwJDL — Tommy Rooney (@TomasORuanaidh) June 7, 2025
Not everyone was displeased. Henry Shefflin, Donal Óg Cusack and Liam Sheedy were all for it.
This is only a scattered and far from exhaustive list, but you'd have to ask if they were happy with the incident prior to half-time when Brian Hayes had Mike Casey's hurl wrapped around one hip, while Casey had a firm hold of his jersey at the other hip. This play ended with David Reidy scoring a point to trim the margin at half-time.
Diarmaid Byrnes has a hold of Diarmuid Healy's hurl. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Were they happy when there was a sniff of a goal for Aidan O'Connor only to have the sliotar ripped from his hand?
That it took 16 minutes for the first free for Limerick?
Or the Brian Hayes bodychecking that finished with Gearoid Hegarty taking a quick free for a Shane O'Brien goal?
We could go on, but a debate such as this is a landmine. Supporters of either county grab a nib and a ledger and record the checks and balances, eager to find a conspiracy against their team.
Just over ten years ago, the former Kilkenny hurling great Eddie Keher put together a document and forwarded it to the GAA in which he outlined a case that red and yellow cards should be dropped entirely from hurling.
Among his reasonings was an eye-catchline line that cards awarded in hurling were, 'Totally at variance with the ethos, physicality and manliness of the game of hurling.'
Not much Keher said would have found many objections within Kilkenny.
That very week, the manager Brian Cody was asked for his opinion and said, 'It made an awful lot of sense. You're talking about a person who has adorned the game. He's speaking as a man who has a passion and a love for the game. His thoughts would be worth listening to I would think.
'I think that there is absolutely an over emphasis on cards, without a shadow of a doubt. I don't want to start getting into a whole rigmarole again but it can't become a non-contact sport and there's an absolute emphasis on heading that direction.'
Nowhere will you find self-interest quite like you will find it in the GAA.
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A decade previous, then Armagh captain Kieran McGeeney was suggesting that the tackle in Gaelic football was poorly defined. He wouldn't be alone in that of course, but having played a lot of International Rules in his time, he felt that a full-on rugby/Aussie Rules tackle would eliminate the grey areas.
In fairness to McGeeney, he has along with other long-serving managers such as Mickey Harte, been consistent in their insistence that consistency has been lacking.
But then… It suited the Armagh team that McGeeney played on to allow full-contact tackles, given their physical profile.
And it suited Kilkenny a decade ago to oppose cards, as they – like all other heavily scrutinised champions – played the game right on and often over the edge.
At the start of the second half of the Munster final, the two midfields lined up against each other. It descended into a festival of pulling and dragging with hands on helmets and all sorts of jostling.
It only ended when the ball went live.
Repeat ad infinitum.
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