GAA President Christy Cooney believes that controversial referee Martin Sludden should be allowed to continue his role as a match official without any hassle.

Sludden will forever be remembered for his calamitous error in awarding Meath a goal in the dying minutes of the Leinster final, which denied Louth a first provincial title in 50 years.

The goal clearly shouldn't have been given and the decision caused outrage all over the country and made national headlines for a number of weeks afterwards.

However, Cooney feels that it is now time to move on and stressed that Cooney should be allowed concentrate on his refereeing career without any further criticism.

"I hope he is allowed to move on and concentrate on future refereeing assignments without disruption or distraction," said Cooney.

"Martin Sludden's role in the Leinster final has been well documented, and at this stage it needs to be pointed out that he held his hands up and admitted his mistake after that match.

"I would like to laud the role that our referees play in our games and stress that without them, our games simply wouldn't take place. It goes without saying that we strive for optimum performance levels and consistency with all our match officials, and I stress that never before has more attention to detail been applied to the recruitment, training and assessment of our men in black."

Cooney added: "However, the indisputable fact is that human errors are made by our referees, just as they are by players on the field of play and managers and coaches on the sideline." Tweet

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