I am way too long in the tooth for blinkered "my club can do no wrong" bull5hit. I hate that kind of tribalism. It's childish and pretty pathetic.
It's pretty clear there was some knuckle-headed stuff going on from both clubs, but the following does not seem to be in dispute in any account so far:
- Héry is time-wasting.
- This infuriates Caulfield, who enters the field of play. This is presented by Cork fans as him just retrieving the ball, and by Waterford fans as more aggressive than this. There is photographic evidence on the web. I leave it to others to make their own mind up. The incursion is not in dispute though.
- Héry reacts by pushing Caulfield.
- Cork's team and bench reacts to the push.
- Waterford's team and bench reacts to the Cork reaction.
Now, if this is the accurate sequence of events, as it appears to be, whilst the behaviour of everyone should be under scrutiny and is not beyond criticism, the trigger is Caulfield's entry on to the field of play. Some will point to Héry's time-wasting, but this strikes me as a red herring, as players time waste at the end of every game, everywhere, now and always. It's a punishable offence, based on the referee's judgement. But as a manager, you can't react by coming on the pitch. People's behaviour from that point on was poor and I would not wish to excuse it, but the trigger is obvious.
I expect a touch line ban for Caulfield, and three game suspensions for those that received red cards. Harder to know the fate of Alan Reynolds, as his role is less clear.