Dublin City's website at it yet again
Match report on the Cork City match on their site:
http://www.dublincityfc.com/
DUBLIN CITY.....0; CORK CITY....4
A WEEK is a long time in football. Just seven days after berating officials for sending off Michael Devine in the FAI Cup at Flancare Park, Cork City manager Damien Richardson was all smiles as his side benefitted from two outrageous refereeing decisions which ruined Dublin City's game plan against the champions last night.
Naturally, Richardson kicked for touch when asked about the incidents claiming he was at the wrong end of the ground, but for touchline official Rhona Daly, she stands indicted for one of the season's howler's as she gave a goal that replay shows never crossed the line. How can she give something she can't see? She can't really, but then this is eircom League officials and anything is likely to happen - and it did.
Bad enough to be a goal down by the eight minute, six minutes later Neale Fenn - perhaps a yard offside, but offside all the same is allowed carry on and slip the ball past Rogers. Rhonda nowhere to be seen on this occasion and she gets another call wrong- City two down to two goals that should have not be allowed! Both howlers down to Rhona!
Rico's rant had its reward and his claims that there was an agenda against his club and Dublin based hierarchy pales yet again as Dublin City are blatantly done yet again, again, again, again and again.
It might sound like a broken needle but the standard of referee that Dublin City and the decisions against them has had to live with borders on the shocking and manager Dermot Keely candidly admitted that in 37 years of involvement in the game this performance was right down with the worst of them - and there have been many.
"The clubs are making huge efforts and so are the players and here you have the match officials ruining the match as a spectacle because of horrendous decisions like that. I've had two players sent off and while I don't argue with the merit of those decisions, the referee and his team of officials will be back refereeing next week and invariably when you give out about a particular official they have a habit of sticking you with the same ref to try shut you up, so I expect to see him quite soon.
"My players will stand suspended but they'll be off doing matches performing as only they know how. It's a joke but that's the way it is and many parts of the game have moved on but the likes of this is simply killing it. I walked away from Shelbourne because of decisions like this and while the clubs have moved on you saw the appaling decisions this evening undermining the game at this level."
"They are only part of the game and while big strides have been made, the standard of match official is really abysmal on occasions and while Cork are a decent side, they've been given the best possible start and it's killed the game for us."
Added Keely: "We've played two games since Cork played last and we've had to go to extratime to, so I thought we looked tired and the way Cork passed the ball we probably would have lost the game by a couple of goals anyway. But that still doesn't make up for the decisions that have gone against us and I know where Damien was coming from last week. This week it's me, but the common denominator is the match official and the game is suffering greatly as a result and it's time that people in authority stand up and do something about it."
"You run the gauntlet of clocking a fine but I'm not the one making the mistake, I'm just pointing out who it is and how it's ruining and killing the game."
Effectively over as a contest both Ben Whelehan and Gary Rogers subsequently saw red for last man tackles with Dave Conroy having to face George O'Callaghan's spotkick for City's third goal and while he made a brave attempt to save, the ball found the back of the net. Substitute Ray Lally added a fourth late on and Richardson's rant had reaped it's full reward - the agenda is not against Cork, it's against Dublin City!!!.
One blight on the game was George O'Callaghan's show of bad sportsmanship at a time when the Vikings were down to nine-men. George may be the darling of the Leesiders but his juvenile display of `show boating' showed just how unsporting an individual he is.
Assistant Dublin City manager Gar Cronin let him know in no uncertain terms of his disgust when O'Callaghan was substituted. Said Cronin: "I played for Cork for 10 years and that's not what Cork City football club is about. It was a disgrace and I let him know how I felt about it. It was bang out of order trying to take the **** out of a team that's down to nine players. It was sad to see and a poor reflection on him as an individual and he should be ashamed of his actions in a Cork City jersey."
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It also has a headline "Rhona's two big howlers" with a picture of her upper body in shall we say "mid bounce". Am I jumping the gun or are they getting at something there? They'd be in serious trouble if they were.:confused: I've said it before and I'll say it again, their lack of professionalism on their site is appalling. What kind of club is stupid enough to publicise their staff criticising match officials in this current climate?
