LIAM KEARNS HAD no qualms in accepting his Tipperary side collided with a superior Armagh force tonight at Semple Stadium.
But the Tipperary manager did question the performance of referee Paddy Neilan, particularly his application of the advantage rule.
Both sides suffered in that respect with Gavin McParland having an Armagh goal disallowed in the first-half while play was brought back in injury time when Tipperary’s Philip Austin had broken through near goal.
“Look, I’m not going to comment too much on the referee but I’m very disappointed with the referee.
“All I could see from him was this (makes diving motion with hands). My players don’t dive, and he was calling dives all over the pitch. I just could not understand that.
“Also, on the advantage rule, somebody would want to explain the advantage rule to him because he didn’t seem to know it.
“That’s all I’m going to say on it. He didn’t cost us the game, Armagh deserved to win the match, but I would be disappointed with his display.”
Tipperary tired in the final quarter as Armagh finished the game stronger.
“Our fitness levels aren’t what they should be because of injuries. We just don’t maybe have the fitness levels that we should.
“That was a fast game, a lot of running done and it was very tiring. A lot of the boys were barely hanging in at the end.
“The injuries caught up with us in the end, Emmet Moloney’s injury put us under a lot of pressure and we had to move Brian Fox back again.
“Jack Kennedy’s black card was a big blow as well. We didn’t put enough scores on the board in the first half, that put us under pressure, and Mikey (Quinlivan) wasn’t right.
“He got the goal but we were under the cosh for a lot of the second half and living off crumbs. Ultimately, it told.”
Kearns had steered his team to victory over Armagh by 3-8 to 0-16 in a crucial league tie in April that clinched promotion for Tipperary.
But he watched Armagh turn the tables this evening to book a place in Round 4B.
“At the end of the day, I’d say Armagh were the better team, based on the second half, and we caught them in the league.
“In fairness, they put us out of the championship so I suppose there’s karma there. I think they’re going in the right direction.
“They deserved that, we caught them in the League and that’s karma. How good they are, time will tell. It’s too early to say, isn’t it?”
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