Hurling & Camogie

Referees are too strict at lower levels says new Armagh hurling manager Paddy Kelly

Middletown star Ryan Gaffney won't be available to Armagh until the end of his club's All-Ireland intermediate championship run
Middletown star Ryan Gaffney won't be available to Armagh until the end of his club's All-Ireland intermediate championship run Middletown star Ryan Gaffney won't be available to Armagh until the end of his club's All-Ireland intermediate championship run

NEW Armagh hurling manager Paddy Kelly says pressure from assessors in the stands is causing officials to referee too strictly at lower levels.

Meath native Kelly, who has taken over the Orchard county reins from Sylvester McConnell, says players in divisions two and three of the National Hurling League are “not being allowed to play the game properly” because of over-fussy refereeing.

“Matches at our level are refereed differently,” said the former Leinster Railway Cup mentor and Louth manager.

“There are frees blown in the lower levels that are not blown at the higher levels. The referees at the lower levels are being watched and assessed and they give frees and show cards and then you watch Division One and lads are really competitive and aggressive on the ball and there are no frees.

“Down at our level the majority of the scores are from frees – you have one fella maybe scoring 10 points from frees, so players don’t get the same opportunities (from open play) as they do higher up.

“The referees at the top level aren’t worried about the fella up in the stand watching them because they’ve made it, whereas the refs down below need to have a card for everything. I’m not saying that players should be allowed to do whatever they like, but we’re not being allowed to play the game properly. You get three or four of your fellas on yellow cards and you have to make a decision on whether to take them off. Then the following week you see similar tackles at a higher level and there are no cards issued and rightly so.”

He added: “I’ve complained about it before and the feedback I’m getting is that referees at the lower levels are actually refereeing the game properly and some of the lads at the top are just letting the game go and ignoring some of the stuff.

“But we’d rather see the game go on the way it’s refereed at the top level.”

Kelly has begun preparing the Orchard county for their 2018 Division 2B campaign, which begins with a trip to Wicklow on January 28, without the sizeable contingent from Ulster Intermediate champions Middletown. The Na Fianna club meet Cork’s Munster champions Kanturk in an All-Ireland semi-final on January 21.

“I’m only getting to know some of the boys,” the Kiltale clubman explained.

“The Middletown lads are all tied up and a good few of them would be the backbone of the Armagh team so we’ll need all our top players.

“We played Roscommon in Athlone a week ago and it was mostly new lads in and they are getting their chance and that’s ideal, it’s a good opportunity for them to come through.”

Kelly has targeted a top two finish in Division 2B for his side which he feels will provide the springboard for a Christy Ring Cup challenge.

“At our level I don’t think any manager can make a decision to forget the League and go for the Christy Ring or vice versa,” he said.

“You don’t have too much to play for so you have to be going for everything – whatever you’re in, you have to be going to try and win it.

“It might happen out of the blue, but if you’re not performing in your League, you’re not going to perform in the Christy Ring. You have to get momentum through the League and we’d be ideally placed if we can get to the League final.

“That would be the target, getting to the top two in the division. But it won’t be easy, we have to play Down and Derry away and Wicklow away too. We have Mayo and Donegal at home, but the away matches are tough.”