HAWK EYE DECISION APPEALED

Following a meeting of the officers of Limerick Coun-ty Board on Monday eve-ning, it has been confirmed that Limerick GAA are making an appeal to Croke Park as a result of the failure of the Hawk Eye system at GAA head-quarters on Sunday at the start of the Limerick v Galway All-Ireland minor hurling semi-final. Barry Nash appeared to have opened the scoring for Limerick inside the first minute, only for the referee to refer to the score detec-tion system which subse-quently deemed it not to be a score, while the ball clearly appeared to have passed between the uprights.

In a brief statement issued late on Monday evening, Limerick County Board stated: “Luimneach CLG can confirm that we will be lodging an appeal with the CCCC based on the failure of the Hawk Eye Score Detection System during the All Ireland Minor Hurling semi final in Croke Park on Sunday August 18th.”

The appeal was submitted to Croke Park on Tuesday, and in the meantime the Board is refusing to make any further comment on the matter or to confirm the grounds for the appeal.

The All-Ireland minor final is fixed for Sunday Sep-tember 8th which is a little over two weeks away, so Croke Park authorities will have to move fast on the matter. One of the pos-sibilities, no matter how remote, is that the game will be replayed, but there are very few precedents for such a move. A quick hearing and decision is of paramount importance and developments are likely to take place very quickly.

Meanwhile, in a statement on Monday, Sony Hawk Eye apologised to the G.A.A. and its supporters for Sunday’s failure and moved to assure that the system will be fully reli-able for all future games.