TIPPERARY U21 MANAGER Tommy Toomey was left fuming with the tactics employed by Tyrone during his side’s agonising loss in last night’s Eirgrid All-Ireland Under 21 football final.
The Premier county were aiming to make history by winning their first title at that level but were left heartbroken as they fell short by a scoreline of 1-11 to 0-13 at Parnell Park.
Cathal McShane scored what proved to be the decisive goal in the 46th minute but Tipperary rallied in the final stages only for time to run out on their challenge.
Speaking to RTÉ after the game, Toomey was angered by a couple of decisions which he felt went against his side as well as the way in which the Red Hand county went about their business during an absorbing final in Dublin.
“Of course we’re hurt, we’ve just lost an All-Ireland final,” he said. “But we’ll come back out of it, I’ve no doubt we will. I congratulate Tyrone on their win.
“Looking at a few bits and pieces from the end of the game and maybe we could have got a draw. But that’s the referee’s decision and that’s how the game is played but how you measure that, I don’t know.”
The game’s talking point came in the dying embers. Despite referee Fergal Kelly showing Michael Cassidy a second yellow, he stuck with his original decision to give a free out instead of reversing it.
“The referee will have to offer an explanation but they don’t do they? Retaliation or whatever was done on the player after the whistle is blown, the referee usually throws up the ball but in this case he didn’t,” Toomey added.
Tempers flared on more than once occasion and Toomey believes his side were the victims of foul play throughout although he denied there was any incident after the game.
“All along in front of us, I saw our players being hit and pushed and dragged. That to me is a different way to play football than we would.
“I shook Fergal’s [Logan] hand on the field of play, just there and I waited for him when his players were coming into the dressing room late and we were leaving. We didn’t want an incident and it was as simple as that, we left.
“That’s the way they play but look you’re not going to force me to make any sort of explanation on this. What I see is what I see on the field of play and everyone else sees it as well.
“That’s all I’m saying about it. At the end of the game, in the the last 10 minutes, Tyrone are experts at winding the clock down at goading people and that’s my opinion and I’ll stick to that.”
