All Blacks dogged by poor refereeing
ALL BLACKS made the journey down the N25 on Sunday to play St. Mary’s of Cork in the last 16 of the S.F.A.I. Under-13 Cup.
The Blacks were hopeful of securing the win and progressing to the last eight. The game was eventually to be decided by some very dubious and debatable refereeing decisions. Played on a soft, muddy pitch, it started with the All Blacks appearing nervous and they were slow to get going against their bigger, more physical opponents.
The first major talking point came in the 13th minute when the Blacks ‘keeper Lee Kelly came off his line and won a ball, only to be on the receiving end of a crude two-footed lunge from a Mary’s player which resulted in him having to go off injured, but no action was taken against the offending player.
On 21 minutes the Blacks won a free-kick and Kyle Rankin duly fired them ahead. However, within two minutes the home side were level, as their number 9 was left unmarked and fired a header into the back of the net.
Almost immediately the Blacks again had the ball in the home side’s net as an Evan Cullen shot deceived the ‘keeper and, after hitting the crossbar, bounced in over the line. In his desperation to keep out the shot the home netminder slipped and fell onto the ground.
To the delight of the travelling players and supporters the referee blew the whistle and started to run back to the halfway line. After about ten seconds and with the ‘keeper still on the ground, to the amazement of everyone the referee went back into the penalty area and awarded a free out, with no explanation offered for his decision.
A re-energised All Blacks came out for the second-half and took the game to the home team, but with 15 minutes left St. Mary’s again took the lead. All Blacks laid siege to the hosts’ goal and were rewarded with six minutes left as the hard-working Ben Rossiter fired them level.
The Blacks pushed hard looking for a well-deserved winner but disaster struck in the final minute of normal time when a Mary’s shot was cleared. The ball came back in and with their player a clear five yards offside, he proceeded to fire the ball past the ‘keeper into the back of the net. To the amazement of both sets of supporters and management teams the referee allowed the goal to stand.
Credit to the Blacks, as they pushed on again and came close on a couple of occasions to bringing the game to extra-time. But the dream of a home quarter-final was over as the home brought an end to an amazing run for the away side in this competition.
With Wexford’s other representatives, Wexford Celtic, also bowing on a 3-2 scoreline and also on the receiving end off some dubious decisions, Sunday will go down as a victory for the Cork sides but will leave a lot to be desired for the Leeside officials.
All Blacks now have a home regional semi-final against Evergreen on March 7 or 8 to look forward to.
All Blacks: Lee Kelly, Quinn Kelly, Dan Devereux, Luc Farrell, Evan Cullen, Kyle Rankin, Cathal Parker, Tadhg Deegan, Tadhg Hayes, Ben Rossiter, Tadgh McDonald, Alan Dwyer, Jake Cleary, Ryan Goldsmith, Conor Swan, James Wright.