Umpires should be trained refs, insists Cork’s O’ Donoghue

Cork hurling captain Seán O’Donoghue believes trained referees should feature as umpires for inter-county matches.

The Rebel defender was unfairly punished for a game-changing penalty during last year’s Munster Championship final-round contest for holding Aaron Gillane when the Limerick attacker was actually grabbing his hurley.

O’Donoghue (right) thinks giving umpires more power and training would help to avoid unjust decisions.

“It happened a couple of times in that game,” he says.

“People can blame Gillane all they want, but if I was told, ‘You’ll get away with three fouls today and you’ll beat Limerick’, I’d do it.

“It’s the same thing saying you can look at referees, but howis the ref meant to watch Gillane holding on to me when he’s looking at the fella on the ball?

“It’s frustrating at times and I think it needs to be looked at.”

The solution?

“More power for the umpires, but I also think at least one umpire should be a referee.

“Sometimes, the umpires are the referee’s friends and they’re not trained to be dealing with those kinds of situations.

“If you had a referee behind each goal, maybe they wouldn’t be calling it, but if the referee misses something, they could go back and call it then.

“Another thing is the TMO or a video-reviewer, but I think if you started with a referee behind the goal, it would help a lot. “It’s gone very fast now and you have fellas trying different things and getting away with it.

“We probably get awaywith things as well, it’s not just Limerick, but it should be about trying to make it a bit better for fellas.

“You’re giving up, whatever, five evenings a week for hopefully seven or eight months. If you were to lose a game or get knocked out based on a referee’s decision, something he hasn’t seen or he can’t see, it’s a bit unfair on fellas.” O’Donoghue has enjoyed a better run with injuries in 2024 after missing over three months last year with a dead leg.

“I couldn’t bend myknee or anything,” he says. “It was 14 weeks overall by the time I was able to take the field again. I think hog-tying the leg will be the future if I get a dead leg again!

“I just wanted to be part of it, really. When things were going well – we beat Waterford and drew with Tipp, probably a game we could have won, but I suppose we could have lost it as well – I was missing being out there with the lads, being in the dressing room after the game, and stuff like that.

“We have a new S&C coach (Ian Jones) who has put a different spin on things.

“Last year’s S&C (Stephen Casey) was brilliant and this year’s is ... they’re just two different mindsets.

“Personally, injury-wise, touch wood, I’m avoiding them and I’ll hopefully get a better crack of the whip now.”