Louth Robbed

Chalk McHugh · 15-06-2020 10:40am #1

Was watching the Sunday Game last night where they showed that infamous Leinster final between Meath and Louth and they had the Louth manager and Joe Sheridan as guests. It's a long time since the game but even though im a Dub the memories of completre anger and disbelief at one of the worst cases of isporting injustice i can remember came flooding back.

The smug Joe Sheridan, who immediately after the game blatantly lied to the whole country by saying he kicked the ball in the net while doing an interview, coming out last night and saying he's no problem saying it wasn't a goal, was the height of insincerity. Why didn't he own up like a man back on that horrible day? Instead he was seen sneering and laughing at distraught Louth players after the final whistle.

Meath didn't cover themselves in glory thereafter. Offering a replay was the absolute minimum you would expect from a team that knowingly robbed a title in such awful circumstances. But as the days went by not a word of it. Meath hiding behind GAA rules and passing the buck, lost the respect of the whole country. If they really wanted to they could have forced the GAAs hand. No replay we will pull out is all they had to say. And the GAA would have had to go ahead with it.

But the damage was done on the field with that rugby try scored by Sheridan. I doubt Louth would have won a replay anyway. Their dreams were robbed with that bogus goal and it was going to be very hard to pick themselves up again.

The one good thing to come out of this was the downfall of Meath thereafter. It was as if Karma came back at them and finished them off. They have never been the same since and seeing sneaky Sheridan on last night with his faux sympathy for Louth was stomach churning. Sheridan will always be known for that incident and Sludden fell for it in the worst act of irresponsible refereeing we've ever seen. What a disgusting day it was.

WesternZulu · 15-06-2020 10:43am

Great game and Louth were robed. I think the whole country felt for them seeing at we all knew that more than likely it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for them to win at provincial level.

Seems like a lifetime ago now seeing how much Dublin have dominated since then.

As a Mayo man I also have enjoyed Meath's downfall since!

The_Kew_Tour · 15-06-2020 10:50am

It's sad that the first thing to come to mind was actually the attack on the ref by half dozen or so Louth fans after the game.

If any game proved that certain linesmen and refs really were no where near up to the job it was this game.

I think it was same day as world cup final and I remember going out in dublin for the match that evebing with friends and only thing we talked about was that goal.

ja_ · 15-06-2020 10:13pm

what always annoyed me most was what the ref said after, if he didn't allow the goal he was going to give a penalty

Gooey Looey · 15-06-2020 10:17pm

I remember it, the first try ever scored in Croke park!

Chalk McHugh · 15-06-2020 10:39pm

ja_ wrote: »

what always annoyed me most was what the ref said after, if he didn't allow the goal he was going to give a penalty

Peter Fitzpatrick said last night when he met Sludden after the match Sludden said if he didn't allow the goal he was going going to award a penalty anyway as if he was trying to lessen the damage and hurt caused to Louth. I've looked at it loads of times and it was never a penalty. Another cop out by Sludden. Fitzpatrick said it was wrong to have an Ulster referee which i though twas nonsense. The only thing that was wrong was having an incompetent referee.

LuasSimon · 15-06-2020 10:47pm

Sludden acted like a real school teacher after the game handing out cards to Louth players remonstrating with him after he himself had made one of the greatest mistakes in GAA history .

Sludden got off lightly enough , there’s a lot of supporters out there that would have stretched him if they had got near him .

Chalk McHugh · 15-06-2020 10:51pm

LuasSimon wrote: »

Sludden acted like a real school teacher after the game handing out cards to Louth players remonstrating with him after he himself had made one of the greatest mistakes in GAA history .

Sludden got off lightly enough , there’s a lot of supporters out there that would have stretched him if they had got near him .

Sludden tried to give one of the attacking fans a red card too. To be fair he must have thought it was a player or sub but his head was gone at that stage. I never saw fans as angry as that day. Dont think i ever will. The referee was lucky he wasn't given a few proper clatters. It was very dangerous situation.

Fred Daly · 15-06-2020 11:37pm

Sludden really rubbed salt into the louth supporters wounds by flashing does red cards that day he did not seem to think anything wrong.

John Hutton · 15-06-2020 11:41pm

Couldn't put myself through that again by watching that.

Watching the telly later I saw a few well known Drogheda Utd "fans" used to causing trouble at the soccer matches in the thick of the trouble, probably their first time at a GAA game! (Not a dig at the Drogs, I'm one myself)

Hammer Archer · 16-06-2020 9:32am

Funny how no one remembers that Sludden basically rode Meath for 73 minutes of that game. Louth were given soft free after soft free in the last 10 minutes to put the game beyond doubt yet missed them all.

I do have sympathy for the Louth players but I have none for Louth fans as a whole after their display after the game. You had Meath fans (including women and children) getting dogs abuse and threats and Mark Ward and Sean Boylan getting assaulted by their fans.
I have zero doubt that had the roles been reversed, Meath would have been laughed at and told to suck it up.

The whole spiel about "how far Meath have fallen" since then is a bit silly too. That was our first Leinster final appearance in 9 years. We've appeared in 4 since then (with no success obviously). 2007 and 2009 were moderately successful yet we were knocked out in the Leinster quarter finals both times. In 2008, we famously lost to Wexford before being humiliated by Limerick in the qualifiers.

rpurfield · 16-06-2020 9:50am

I always find it mad that some Dubs are in the process of watching probably the greatest team ever to grace the GAA (well would be only for the shutdown) but still manage to foam at the mouth about the Leinster final in 2010 :rolleyes:

Chalk McHugh · 16-06-2020 9:57am

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Funny how no one remembers that Sludden basically rode Meath for 73 minutes of that game. Louth were given soft free after soft free in the last 10 minutes to put the game beyond doubt yet missed them all.

I do have sympathy for the Louth players but I have none for Louth fans as a whole after their display after the game. You had Meath fans (including women and children) getting dogs abuse and threats and Mark Ward and Sean Boylan getting assaulted by their fans.
I have zero doubt that had the roles been reversed, Meath would have been laughed at and told to suck it up.

The whole spiel about "how far Meath have fallen" since then is a bit silly too. That was our first Leinster final appearance in 9 years. We've appeared in 4 since then (with no success obviously). 2007 and 2009 were moderately successful yet we were knocked out in the Leinster quarter finals both times. In 2008, we famously lost to Wexford before being humiliated by Limerick in the qualifiers.

Ok. Meath were falling anyway. But there's no doubt Meath lost any bit of goodwill they ever had with the other 31 counties after that. They didn't come out of it looking well. I dont know how any of the players ever look back on that Leinster medal with any fondness. I doubt they do.

As for Meath getting to 4 Leinster finals in last 10 years i doubt losing to Dublin by 16 points in each of their last two finals is making any strides to bridging the gap. A comulative 32 point beating of our old neighbours must have been hard to stomach. In last years final the big question coming up to half time was whether Meath would actually go in at the break with any score on the board at all. It was touch and go but ye managed a score eventually so hats off for that. Maybe next time ye can make some sort of a game of it and we'll get a bit of value out of a 30e ticket but the days when the sight of a Meath jersey got the juices flowing for us are long gone.

elefant · 16-06-2020 9:59am

I wouldn't blame Joe Sheridan for not admitting the ball was thrown over the line. Those things happen so quickly that you can easily not be certain how it played out.

Chalk McHugh · 16-06-2020 10:02am

rpurfield wrote: »

I always find it mad that some Dubs are in the process of watching probably the greatest team ever to grace the GAA (well would be only for the shutdown) but still manage to foam at the mouth about the Leinster final in 2010 :rolleyes:

It was a topic of discussion on The Sunday Game couple nights ago so the memories came flooding back. I think any GAA person would feel pretty much the same about what happened to Louth that day. We're all part of the GAA family so whether you are from Dublin, Fermanagh, Clare or Sligo any GAA fan that knows how much a Provincial title means to a county like Louth would have been disgusted and saddened by that days events.

Still waters · 16-06-2020 10:08am

Had the umpire as much responsibility as sludden, sludden approached him and the umpire seemed to give the goal, sludden was behind the play also

is_that_so · 16-06-2020 10:12am

I was there. Defied any logic and what happened after was equally as bad. Still reckon if they'd just kept the ball for two more minutes...

elefant · 16-06-2020 10:46am

Watching it back, the most disappointed of all must have been the Louth player who made the great full-stretch block to stop the initial shot going in. What a moment in Louth GAA that would have been, forgotten.

Hammer Archer · 16-06-2020 11:00am

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

Ok. Meath were falling anyway. But there's no doubt Meath lost any bit of goodwill they ever had with the other 31 counties after that. They didn't come out of it looking well. I dont know how any of the players ever look back on that Leinster medal with any fondness. I doubt they do.

As for Meath getting to 4 Leinster finals in last 10 years i doubt losing to Dublin by 16 points in each of their last two finals is making any strides to bridging the gap. A comulative 32 point beating of our old neighbours must have been hard to stomach. In last years final the big question coming up to half time was whether Meath would actually go in at the break with any score on the board at all. It was touch and go but ye managed a score eventually so hats off for that. Maybe next time ye can make some sort of a game of it and we'll get a bit of value out of a 30e ticket but the days when the sight of a Meath jersey got the juices flowing for us are long gone.

Ha! Goodwill???? Towards Meath? You must be joking! There was none of that before or after the 2010 Leinster Final.

Louth players themselves came out and said they wouldn't have offered a replay had the roles been reversed.
I have a question for you though: In your view, at what point does a terrible refereeing decision require a replay? On the same weekend, as far as I can remember, Wexford scored a late penalty against Galway to win by a point and knock them out. It was never a penalty (as replays confirmed). Yet there were no calls for a replay. Meath have also been on the receiving end of some horrific refereeing decisions over the years (before and after 2010) yet we've never had people try to demand a replay. In the 2009 game against Dublin, the referee admitted that he failed to play enough injury time in the game and we lost by 2 points. Were you demanding that the game replayed then? Of course you weren't.
Meath benefited from the poor decision which caused uproar. You even saw it after the 2016 Christy Ring final debacle which was not the fault of Meath yet people still came out with "typical Meath cheats" and the like. Some people hate Meath.

Still waters wrote: »

Had the umpire as much responsibility as sludden, sludden approached him and the umpire seemed to give the goal, sludden was behind the play also

To be fair to the umpires, they saw what happened and didn't wave the green flag. That's their signal that it shouldn't have been a goal. But when the referee tells you to do something (i.e. wave the green flag in this case), you have to do it as an umpire. I wouldn't apportion any blame to the umpires in that case.

Chalk McHugh · 16-06-2020 11:04am

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Ha! Goodwill???? Towards Meath? You must be joking! There was none of that before or after the 2010 Leinster Final.

Louth players themselves came out and said they wouldn't have offered a replay had the roles been reversed.
I have a question for you though: In your view, at what point does a terrible refereeing decision require a replay? On the same weekend, as far as I can remember, Wexford scored a late penalty against Galway to win by a point and knock them out. It was never a penalty (as replays confirmed). Yet there were no calls for a replay. Meath have also been on the receiving end of some horrific refereeing decisions over the years (before and after 2010) yet we've never had people try to demand a replay. In the 2009 game against Dublin, the referee admitted that he failed to play enough injury time in the game and we lost by 2 points. Were you demanding that the game replayed then? Of course you weren't.
Meath benefited from the poor decision which caused uproar. You even saw it after the 2016 Christy Ring final debacle which was not the fault of Meath yet people still came out with "typical Meath cheats" and the like. Some people hate Meath.

To be fair to the umpires, they saw what happened and didn't wave the green flag. That's their signal that it shouldn't have been a goal. But when the referee tells you to do something (i.e. wave the green flag in this case), you have to do it as an umpire. I wouldn't apportion any blame to the umpires in that case.

I was shouting for Meath v Cork in 87, 88, 90 and 99. I always respected Boylan's Meath teams. Hard but fair. Hand on heart thats the truth. And i'd imagine a lot of people did too. But that fiasco i lost a lot of that respect for Meath.

As for the game the referee didn't play sufficiant minutes of extra time i honestly cannot recall that but if it happened to Dublin you'd be disappointed but it's hardly in the same bracket as what happened to Louth.

gormdubhgorm · 16-06-2020 11:18am

WesternZulu wrote: »

Great game and Louth were robed. I think the whole country felt for them seeing at we all knew that more than likely it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for them to win at provincial level.

Seems like a lifetime ago now seeing how much Dublin have dominated since then.

As a Mayo man I also have enjoyed Meath's downfall since!

The once in a lifetime bit was the real sickening part.
Had to stop myself throwing something at the telly at the time.
I kind of assumed it would be a replay and the decent thing would be done. Like when Clare and Offaly replayed the hurling match following Jimmy Cooney's error. Thought that was enough of a precedence?

I got the feeling at the time that Louth did not get a replay because the attitude was it was only Louth. And it would blow over.

Louth had a few handy players at the time as well, Keenan, Lennon. and Clarke top of my head.

If Jim Gavin was in the same situation (for example) I bet he would have offered a replay to Louth

The_Kew_Tour · 16-06-2020 11:57am

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

I was shouting for Meath v Cork in 87, 88, 90 and 99. I always respected Boylan's Meath teams. Hard but fair.

I’m not sure ringing the opposition hotel the night before AI and telling one of the players a relative is dead is of fairness.:pac:

Strumms · 16-06-2020 12:11pm

rpurfield wrote: »

I always find it mad that some Dubs are in the process of watching probably the greatest team ever to grace the GAA (well would be only for the shutdown) but still manage to foam at the mouth about the Leinster final in 2010 :rolleyes:

Welcome to boards.ie.. where people regardless of who they support, the success that their team has enjoyed can still freely engage in conversation about any topic from within the sport. This is the GAA forum and as such, anybody, from whatever county, whatever country can discuss and are... a vast array of subjects, this being just one. No foaming at the mouth, the only individual who seems to be doing that is yourself. Foaming at the mouth because people are discussing an topic of interest to GAA supporters, on a GAA forum :eek:

gormdubhgorm · 16-06-2020 8:07pm

rpurfield wrote: »

I always find it mad that some Dubs are in the process of watching probably the greatest team ever to grace the GAA (well would be only for the shutdown) but still manage to foam at the mouth about the Leinster final in 2010 :rolleyes:

Sure I only got over the 2010 semi-final defeat to Meath this year! Where Dublin conceded five goals. I was giving out for the past decade saying that there were reasons to disallow all the goals, steps, fouls on players etc.
But I have made my peace with it and moved on.

I am only back eating Tayto now this year after a long boycott!

As for the issue over Louth's robbery your main gripe about it seems to be that it is a Dub who started this thread. And Dubs are commenting on it.

Does it mean that as a supporter of the greatest GAA team on the planet, it should disqualify them from talking about other counties? If the poster was from a so called 'weaker county' would you feel more at ease?

Plus it is the 10 year anniversary of the most controversial Leinster final in living memory. Also, there is feck all else to talk about GAA wise - other than looking back at the moment

I am curious as to what is your view is on the 2010 leinster final as a non-Dub?
Were Louth blatantly robbed?
Or was Joe Sheridan correct in chancing his arm (up to the ref to spot/call it), and the GAA was correct not to have a replay?

hurler32 · 16-06-2020 9:53pm

Watched that game in a pub close to the main street in St Helier.Jersey Channel islands. good crowd all practically cheering Louth , a couple of meath supporters there who overdid the celebrating got a few slaps after the match . Jersey police were called and all and everyone was ejected from the bar . The same pub didnt show these irish matchs for a long time after. Martin Sluddens incompetence had ramifications all over the globe!!

ShyMets · 17-06-2020 9:42am

Did Sludden ever ref an intercounty match after that.

My recollection is no. But I could be wrong

cms88 · 17-06-2020 10:13am

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Funny how no one remembers that Sludden basically rode Meath for 73 minutes of that game. Louth were given soft free after soft free in the last 10 minutes to put the game beyond doubt yet missed them all.

I do have sympathy for the Louth players but I have none for Louth fans as a whole after their display after the game. You had Meath fans (including women and children) getting dogs abuse and threats and Mark Ward and Sean Boylan getting assaulted by their fans.
I have zero doubt that had the roles been reversed, Meath would have been laughed at and told to suck it up.

The whole spiel about "how far Meath have fallen" since then is a bit silly too. That was our first Leinster final appearance in 9 years. We've appeared in 4 since then (with no success obviously). 2007 and 2009 were moderately successful yet we were knocked out in the Leinster quarter finals both times. In 2008, we famously lost to Wexford before being humiliated by Limerick in the qualifiers.

It's often over looked that Louth kicked that game away and should have been out of sight at that stage.

They played again the following year and Meath hammered them so that should have put an end to it.

It also annoyed me how for about 2/3 years after Fitzpatrick would still bring it up any time a call when againest Louth in games.

is_that_so · 17-06-2020 10:16am

cms88 wrote: »

It's often over looked that Louth kicked that game away and should have been out of sight at that stage.

They played again the following year and Meath hammered them so that should have put an end to it.

It also annoyed me how for about 2/3 years after Fitzpatrick would still bring it up any time a call when against Louth in games.

Long live the slight in the memory! It was frustrating to see all the wasted efforts.

cms88 · 17-06-2020 10:17am

ShyMets wrote: »

Did Sludden ever ref an intercounty match after that.

My recollection is no. But I could be wrong

Afaik he did maybe a year or so after

rpurfield · 17-06-2020 11:20am

Strumms wrote: »

Welcome to boards.ie.. where people regardless of who they support, the success that their team has enjoyed can still freely engage in conversation about any topic from within the sport. This is the GAA forum and as such, anybody, from whatever county, whatever country can discuss and are... a vast array of subjects, this being just one. No foaming at the mouth, the only individual who seems to be doing that is yourself. Foaming at the mouth because people are discussing an topic of interest to GAA supporters, on a GAA forum :eek:

Are you that condensing in real life? I'd say you're great craic in a pub all the same. No issue with the topic being discussed but the tone of the OP was so bitter my screen nearly melted.

rpurfield · 17-06-2020 11:28am

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Sure I only got over the 2010 semi-final defeat to Meath this year! Where Dublin conceded five goals. I was giving out for the past decade saying that there were reasons to disallow all the goals, steps, fouls on players etc.
But I have made my peace with it and moved on. I am only back eating Tayto now this year after a long boycott!

As for the issue over Louth's robbery your main gripe about it seems to be that it is a Dub who started this thread. And Dubs are commenting on it.

Does it mean that as a supporter of the greatest GAA team on the planet, it should disqualify them from talking about other counties? If the poster was from a so called 'weaker county' would you feel more at ease?

Plus it is the 10 year anniversary of the most controversial Leinster final in living memory. Also, there is feck all else to talk about GAA wise - other than looking back at the moment

I am curious as to what is your view is on the 2010 leinster final as a non-Dub?
Were Louth blatantly robbed?
Or was Joe Sheridan correct in chancing his arm (up to the ref to spot/call it), and the GAA was correct not to have a replay?

The replay should've been offered and they would've been beaten out the gate the next day like they were the next year. At the same time it shouldn't have been put on the players to do it.

There was a county board meeting a day or two after it where it was decided to pass the buck onto the players. I think that's some of the worst of it no one actually grabbed it and said lets deal with it. But that would've been pretty par for the course with the county board executive at the time. I honestly believe if anyone at a board level, GAA or County Board, made the call the players would've went with it.

Glad you're back on the Tayto,sure we robbed them off ye at some stage too

Louth Robbed

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