WEXFORD’S FOOTBALLERS HAVE hit out at referee Derek Fahy and his umpires after a controversial last-minute point saw them crash out of the Championship against Limerick on Saturday.
Tempers flared at the final whistle after Fahy allowed Ian Ryan’s injury-time free to stand, despite one of his umpires signalling that the ball had drifted wide.
That disputed score was all that stood between the teams at the final whistle, giving the Shannonsiders a 1-18 to 1-17 victory and a place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Speaking to the Irish Independent after the game, Wexford goalkeeper Anthony Masterson was livid that the point had been allowed, lashing out at the match officials for their handling of the controversy.
“He [the referee] only consulted with the man who said it was a point. Once he asked him what it was, your man said it was a point.
The lad who said it was a wide never batted an eyelid, never argued, never asked a question. He just walked away. And he said to me after the match, ‘It is what it is and it’s done now’.
Even after watching the video footage multiple times, it’s still very difficult to make out the trajectory of the ball.
So what we want to know is – was the referee right to allow the point or, given the circumstances and the amount of uncertainty, should he have chalked it off?
