Carley unhappy with key decision

BRAY Emmets Senior hurling manager, Paul Carley, has rued the decision to rule out Pádraig Doyle’s early second-half goal in his side’s 1-13 to 0-13 loss to Seir Kieran in the semi-final of the Leinster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship on Saturday.

Having accumulated a wellearned four-point lead going into the second-half, Bray Emmets thought that they had their advantage consolidated when Doyle turned home after one of his teammates had knocked the ball back to him on the by-line.

After consultation with his umpires, referee Barry Redmond ruled the ball as having gone wide, however, and Seir Kieran went on to win the game in Aughrim.

Speaking following the game, Paul Carley said that he disagreed with the decision, and that the goal would have completely changed the complexion of the second-half.

‘He was clearly standing on the pitch when he batted it back out,’ he said.

‘I don’t know how they can call it wide or whatever, but these things go against you. There is nothing you can do about it. It’s disappointing, really. That would have put us [seven up] five minutes into the second-half, and put is into a commanding lead, but I don’t know what they were looking at, to be honest with you.

‘It’s disappointing to get to this stage, and for that mistake to happen.’

Despite the disappointment, Carley said that he was happy with the effort put in by his players, and that they will now turn to focusing on retaining their county title in 2020.

‘Everything went to plan for us in the first-half. Unfortunately, in the second-half, they came out and dominated. We couldn’t get our hands on the ball and get it where we wanted to play, but it’s all really a learning experience.

‘We need to come back next year, stronger again. You can’t fault the lads for effort. They work hard, and that’s all you can ask for.

‘You need to learn from these defeats. We have to go back and refocus on the first game in Wicklow, because even though we won the final by ten points, that wasn’t a fair reflection on the championship, so we just get back to work in February and our focus turns to the championship then.’