"Are the big boys going to dominate our games with decisions like this?"
April 21, 2014
Cavan manager Peter Reilly confronts referee Derek O'Mahoney at the end of the game. INPHO
The Dubs booked their All-Ireland final ticket with a narrow 0-11 to 0-10 victory over the Ulster champions at Portlaoise on Saturday but the last two points of the match, which saw Dessie Farrell's charges take the lead for the first time, were shrouded in controversy:
"The last three or four minutes for us, the decisions were extremely poor from our side," Reilly says in The Irish Independent. "Like, Tom Hayes got fouled in our mind up in the corner, no free. Young McHugh, a complete black card offence, yellow card, and then he goes and scores the equaliser.
"And then the last free in, the advantage rule, he puts his hand up, fair enough but in the first-half we had the exact same situation and he put his hand down. He seemed to wait for two seconds longer for Dublin than he did in the first half but that's life."
The Cavan manager was also deeply unhappy that Saturday's match took place at O'Moore Park:
"They've played the Leinster final here, they played the Leinster semi-final here. They actually fought to play the Leinster final here and then they end up playing an All-Ireland semi-final here. We put an objection in about it but we got a letter back from Croke Park - 'hard luck boys'.
"I said it already, are the big boys going to dominate our games with decisions like this? That was an off-field decision. Referees can make decisions on given days that go against you. But why was this game in Portlaoise? They played already here twice. It was an unfair advantage. It shouldn't have been here. But does it matter to the GAA? No. Cavan doesn't matter to them I would suggest.
"It would be like them coming to play us in Armagh. We played our provincial final in Armagh and we played our semi-final there. And we're brought through Dublin to play a game here. Why is that?
"Look, I read a bit in the paper today about Dublin, about various decisions going their way. You can't blame Dublin. If we were in the same situation, we'd take it. But I don't know. It seems to be fairly cruel on the rest of us." Tweet
