In the modern era, technology is a part and parcel of sport at the highest level. Almost every sport has made use of technological advancements in one way or another, with the GAA no exception.
HawkEye has been used in both codes in games at Croke Park since 2013, having also been installed in Semple Stadium during the intervening years. It was seen as a trusted resource for officials for the vast majority of that time, at least until this summer.
Shane Walsh's point in the All-Ireland semi-final between Galway and Derry has been well discussed by this point, with HawkEye ruling that his perfectly good point had in fact gone wide. As the incident occurred just before halftime, it was a fairly simple process for the referee to add on the point for the start of the second half.
Is there a problem with HawkEye? Shane Walsh's free late in the half was deemed wide by the technology at Croke Park, but the replay would suggest otherwise
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📻 https://t.co/2SRRKdgjzu pic.twitter.com/NAimqXO9P2— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 9, 2022
Despite this, it may not have been handled all that well.
Conor Glass on Shane Walsh HawkEye incident
Few would argue that Galway should not have been awarded the point on this occasion, although the way in which the GAA and officials went about it has been questioned.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One, Derry midfielder Conor Glass said that his team were essentially left in dark on the day, not realising the point had been given until five minutes into the second half.
It was a big grey area.
I actually didn't realise (that the previous point was added on) until they went a point up after Shane Walsh's free kick five minutes into the second half..
When he did score - pre-half-time - I was standing under the crossbar and it was clearly over the bar. So I was a bit confused obviously with Hawk-eye.
It wasn't communicated very well, either to the Derry staff or even the referee or GAA officials, that the point was added back on. The players didn't have a clue that it was...
It is obviously off-putting. Look, I'm not going to sit here and say that if we'd started the second half a point up, it would have made a big difference, because our second-half performance wasn't too great. But elite sport is about fine margins and if we had that lead going into the second half, it could have changed the dynamic of the game.
In the heat of the moment, it wasn't communicated well and it wasn't dealt with well by the players ourselves.
Galway would ultimately run out as fairly comfortable winners in the game, meaning this point did not matter a huge deal in the grand scheme of things.
The GAA will be hoping that we don't see a repeat of this issue in the future.
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