The Wicklow senior football championship was marred last year by the saga involving St. Pat's and Shillelagh which resulted in Baltinglass, the former All-Ireland club champions not being able to represent the county in the competition because of the nonsense that went on and for 2008 the issue is Declan Greene's apparent boob in withdrawing a penalty award from the Wicklow Town club. The respected Kilcoole official appears to have got it wrong but on this occasion at least the championship continued as normal and it had no detrimental affect other than the severe annoyance Pat's who must that felt that a goal would have put serious pressure on the Village team. The crux of the matter seems to centre on whether there was retaliation 'immediate and relevant to the free awarded' and there seems little support for the official's decision as if there was retaliation it had nothing to do with the penalty award. Gerry Grehan, a man who has done a certain amount of referring in his time and who admits to on famous bloomer at least, says he always remembers that words of this mentor at the time, Johnny Kelly of Hollywood whose immortal words were, "My granny could ref the first half in a game. The big calls are in the last 10 minutes. It is important that he be consistent and that people understand any rule you decide to call on." Tweet

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