CORK FORWARD ORLA Finn has expressed her frustration over some of the refereeing decisions that were awarded during her side’s Division 1 final against Dublin, including two disallowed goals.

Cork's Orla Finn accepting the PwC GPA Player of the Month award at her home club Kinsale GAA. Sportsfile Sportsfile

The Dubs picked up their second top tier crown following a five-point win over their Munster rivals at Croke Park.

Some of the officiating calls by referee Seamus Mulvihill were criticised in the aftermath of the game, with Dublin boss Mick Bohan saying that he was ‘frustrated’ by some frees against his side for their tackle technique.

There were also two goals disallowed during the game. Dublin forward Niamh Hetherton was denied a second goal when her palmed effort in the 27th minute was ruled out by a square ball.

Similarly, Cork were also deprived of a goal in the late stages of the second half when substitute Eimear Scally found the net.

“I suppose, as a player on the field, it was a very stop-start game,” says Finn, reflecting on the defeat.

“There were a lot of frees awarded.

“Looking back now, the two goals from my view were two goals. I still don’t understand why Eimear Scally’s goal was disallowed. It’s just disappointing. We put so much time and effort into training and there should be a bit more flow to the games as well, especially a big game like a league final.

“It’s senior inter-county football that we’re playing so going forward, I would like to see a little bit more flow to games and a little more of things to be let go.”

When asked if Finn’s concerns related to just the league final or games throughout the league campaign, she replied:

“It was more so in the league final, I felt. Maybe some of those were frees but I think they should just let the game play on a little bit more. And just whatever the rule is, let every referee know and follow by the same rule in the tackle.

“I think that was the biggest cause of all the stop-starts really.”

Cork, who were effectively going into the final as defending champions after winning the last decider in 2019, were once again outmatched by the All-Ireland four-in-a-row champions in a major final.

Although they displayed a great attitude, they were chasing the contest for much of the proceedings at GAA headquarters.

Finn says that a spell of self-reflection is needed to understand where they can bridge that gap.

“I suppose it kind of happens us against Dublin, we have a good spell and then we let them back into the game and then they kind of have their purple patch for a while and we just find it hard to get back in and pull it together at the end.

“It happened in championship last year in the All-Ireland Final and the same thing happened this year. We were beaten by five points the last two times we’ve played Dublin now so we really have to look at ourselves and see where we can improve going forward to Championship.

“Dublin are flying it. We wouldn’t be playing if we didn’t think we were able to match them or push on and beat them some day. Looking forward to the championship, there are a lot of teams that are there or thereabouts. I suppose Dublin are that step ahead of us at the moment. Going into the championship we have to think we have a chance of winning. And we look forward to that challenge.

“We definitely played better against them in the league final than the championship last year. Looking for goal opportunities is something that we’re looking to work on as well, get as many as we can in a game. we had a lot of possession as well as Dublin – our scores maybe didn’t come off at the end of it but I think we’ve made massive improvements between the All-Ireland last year and the league final this year.”

Cork’s attention must now turn to the championship where provincial competitions have been scrapped and replaced by an All-Ireland format, with teams going into groups.

Ephie Fitzgerald’s side are in Group 3 alongside Meath and Tipperary. The Royals are their first challenge on Saturday afternoon and will be coming into the tie buoyed by victory over Kerry in the Division 2 final to secure promotion. 

“Yeah, they’re flying it. They’re after winning the Division 2 league so they’ll have great confidence behind them. I’m looking forward to a really good game, I think they’ll bring a lot of pace and I think they have a lot of youth as well.

“They’re coming off the back of a great win against Kerry in the league final last weekend so they will be bringing that confidence with them and they’ll be giving it their all. So we will have to be up to our best standards to be playing against them on Saturday.”

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