Rory Hickey from Clare has been handed the whistle for Sunday’s All-Ireland quarter-final with Cork (throw-in 4pm). He was the ref for our Connacht semi-final against Galway back in June and he also took charge of our league clash with Cork in April.
His performance in the Galway match was fairly uncontroversial (though perhaps Keith Higgins might want to be on his best behaviour the next day, given that Hickey missed the clout on the ear the Ballyhaunis man gave Galway’s Mark Hehir and so might be in the mood for a bit of retrospective justice) but I recall the home support being fairly agitated about his first half handling of the match against Cork, which resulted in his leaving the pitch to a chorus of boos at half-time. If memory serves me correctly, he also bolted for the dressing room sharpish enough at full-time that day.
Quixotic reffing aside, the one quibble I’d have about Hickey’s appointment is that it’s a Munster official reffing a match between a Munster team and a Connacht team. I’m not saying that a Clare man would necessarily have any great grá for the Donkey Ayters – my Banner County connections have never intimated any fond feelings towards that quarter at any rate – but from an optical point of view it might have been better to go with someone from the other two provinces. But then again, that could have landed us with somebody like our old pal Joe McQuillan so maybe we’re better off with who we’ve got.
Exactly my sentiments;why with so much bad press for officials all season (forever?)…NOT go with an ulster / Leinster ref & be seen to make an effort.Mind you it seems umpires are the ones now to be kingmakers / dreambreakers
I can only imagine a Clare ref would greatly heighten Cork’s chances of defeat, although someone from Tipp would have definitely sealed the deal…
Bizarre. Why put a ref in a match they had already refereed earlier in the year, badly.
Having said that, my future father-in-law said he half expected the GAA to appoint Martin Sludden to the Louth-Meath qualifier, such is their logic for appointing referees.
Turenne in your opinion what are mayos chances on sunday? Do cork people feel that they have any weaknesses in their side that mayo might expose? I dont think the ref in relevant really but corks injuries are no harm to mayos chances, Goulding is an especially big loss.
P.s. Willie Joe your descriptions of the various counties on the blog in recent times have been very entertaining i.e. the Donkey Ayters (Cork), Goat Suckers (Wicklow) Herrin Chokers (Galway) etc. Where did these names originate?? Ive often heard Roscommon called the sheepstealers before, but the others were new to me, do ya have any alternative names for the like of Meath or the Dubs?? Im guessing people could come up with a few but they might not be printable on this site!
Keep up the good work anyway, really enjoy this blog its by some distance the best forum online to discuss mayo gaa at the moment, and heres hoping we’ll all be discussing a semi final date for mayo after sunday.
have a look at this missing list just off the top of my head from last year for one reason or another, not to mention the likes of Masters and Anthony Lynch from 2009.
Now if mayo can’t do it now they never will. Only Dublin hurlers have anything comparable to this list.
NickMurphy
John Hayes
Ciaran Sheahan
Daniel Goulding
Colm O’Neill
Barry O’Driscoll
Paddy O’Shea
Derek Kavanagh
Paul Flynn
KevinMcMahon
I can’t see the logic of that – Sheehan, Goulding and O’Neill are all first fifteen men, for sure, but none of the rest are. Kavanagh has retired so I don’t see why he should be included at all – ageing isn’t confined to Cork men, after all!
Just getting back to you on the topic of county nicknames, Aussie Exile (and apologies for not doing so before now) – I did a piece on this ages ago (it’s here). I’ve no idea where they originate but they add to the colour for sure. As well as the ones you mentioned, the Stone Throwers (Tipp), the Scallion Ayters (Carlow), the Herrin Gutters (Donegal) and the Short Grass County (Kildare) are all worth listing again.
Aussie, I have yet to see Mayo play in this year’s championship so I can’t really answer your question. I would however say the Cork public expects a pretty handy win on Sunday.