GAA RISE TO REF'S DEFENCE.

Byline: ORLA BANNON

SUNDAY'S All-Ireland semi-final was John Bannon's last game as an inter-county referee.

The Longford whistler is due to retire at the end of this season and no doubt had hoped to go out on a high by taking charge of the Cork v Tyrone game.

However his performance will be remembered for all the wrong reasons after a catalogue of blunders.

Cork's Alan O'Connor was wrongly sent-off but the Rebels were lucky not to have several others dismissed in the secondhalf.

The GAA's national referees' co-ordinator Pearce Freaney yesterday defended his man and instead blamed the players for the game descending into near chaos by the end.

"I won't comment on any referee's individual performance but what I will say is that it was a very difficult game to referee," claimed Freaney.

"None of the decisions affected the outcome of the game."

Bannon, a member of the Legan Sarsfields club in Longford, has been an intercounty referee since 1992. He took charge of All-Ireland football finals in 1998 and 2002, the 2007 national league final and the All-Ireland club final in 2001.

He refereed two Championship matches this season, the Ulster Championship clash between Fermanagh and Down and the Connacht final between Mayo and Galway.

Freaney denied that Bannon had been awarded Sunday's semi-final as some sort of reward for all his years' service.

"There are no sympathetic appointments here," he insisted.

"John Bannon got the game because he was one of the form referees.

"He had an excellent Championship."

CAPTION(S):

CRITICISM John Bannon WRONGLY DISMISSED Cork star Alan O'Connor