In light of Richie Hogan's sending-off in the All-Ireland final, Kieran Donaghy believes the spectacle was ultimately ruined as a result of the Kilkenny man's first-half dismissal.
Watching from afar, Kieran Donaghy found himself thinking along the same lines as Henry Shefflin after Sunday's All-Ireland hurling final.
Disappointed with the decision to send off Richie Hogan for a head-high collision with Tipperary's Cathal Barrett, Donaghy, like the RTÉ pundit Shefflin, simply believes the wrong decision was made and the game suffered for it.
"If he'd come in and threw the elbow deliberately," suggested Donaghy, "then absolutely it is a straight red card.
"I just felt that in the spirit of the game, and spirit in which Richie Hogan plays the game, there wasn't a bad stroke.
"Let's call a spade a spade, it ruined the game."
Although many onlookers suspect that Tipperary would have been victorious with or without Hogan's dismissal, Kilkenny's reduction to 14-men unquestionably played into the margin of victory that Tipperary established.
It was the particular nature of the game in question that Kieran Donaghy believes was ultimately overlooked by the referee, James Owens.
"They're the rules," he conceded, "but I think when it comes to the All-Ireland final there is no next game, there's no tomorrow.
"In an All-Ireland final, at the speed that these guys are going and given everything that's on the line, technically it was a red card but I think it could have just resulted in a yellow card.
"There has to be malice for a red card in my eyes. I don't think there was any malice in that.
"You even saw by his reaction that Richie Hogan was never expecting a red.
"In fairness to the ref, he consulted with his linesmen and there was a call to be made, but I think there's a bit of common sense that could come into it."
If you want to listen to Kieran Donaghy's interview in its entirety, click here.
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