Gleesons are now top of Waterford’s worry list
AS Waterford celebrate getting to a first AllIreland final since 2008, they’ll be worried about the availability of two big players. Conor Gleeson did give Patrick Horgan a flick of the hurl and, while hurling people will always be accused of trying not to accept the rules, it was just a little flick. Damien Cahalane’s tackle, which saw him pick up a second yellow card was dangerous and high but Gleeson’s was more a rush of blood to the head. Referee James Owens had no choice, as it was striking or attempting to strike, but we see this in matches all of the time. Far more dangerous instances go unpunished, but under the rules, Gleeson had to go. Incidentally, I’m not sure why Horgan was sent off. It didn’t look like he did anything to me. The other major talking point centred on Austin Gleeson and that incident with Luke Meade in the first-half. Austin pulled the helmet off Meade and after all that’s happened with the Tadhg de Búrca case, why would you even think about doing it? It was on the very low end of the scale in terms of being dangerous, and didn’t cause any damage to Meade, but the rule is there. We saw Galway’s Adrian Tuohy get away with an incident involving Tipp’s Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher in the first semi-final and I can only imagine what’s going through the minds of the Waterford lads now. It will be looked at and Gleeson pulled the helmet off — that’s the bottom line. Hurling people everywhere will want to see Austin Gleeson play in an All-Ireland final but he’ll be a lucky man if he gets to line out.