Mayo GAA fans enraged as umpire accused of worst crime imaginable

While the rest of the GAA world is snoozing or turning up in their thousands to McKenna Cup games, the real action is kicking off in the secondary colleges competitions.

We have fixtures congestion in camogie and ladies football, while the mighty, mighty St Peter's College (author's bias) have been engaging in Kieran Donaghyesque shenanigans in Enniscorthy. Meanwhile, in Mayo, Ballina and Westport's finest have been going at it. https://twitter.com/WestportGAA/status/821852518284197888 Over on the Westport GAA Facebook page it all seems rosy in the garden after what appeared a straight-forward 11-point win for Rice College. However, as one SportsJOE reader informed us, the Ballina fans were not taking this defeat lying down - as could be plainly seen over on the Mayo GAA Banter Facebook page. According to one post the game was surrounded in controversy due to the behaviour of one umpire, who had been designated by Westport. It is alleged, with Ballina down by six points, a ball was punched towards the unguarded Westport goal, only for the umpire in question to step in front of it and block it. "After nearly 5 minutes the ref decided to throw the ball up. Ballina ended up losing 1-15 to 9 but they were on the front foot before they then lost all momentum after the incident. The umpire then later admitted to the Ballina manager what he had done and called it a 'reflex' action," claims this poster. Hell of a claim. One that is disputed by Westport fans. In our underage days we distinctly remember a similar intervention by an umpire. We also remember a referee being locked in a dressingroom and mothers of opposing players squaring up to each other on the sideline. Underage GAA is where the real action kicks off, but isn't it nice in this digital age to be able to vent about injustices online. Neutral Mayo observers have backed up these claims to SportsJOE but the disparity in the scoreline makes it unlikely any action will be taken.