Laois GAA amends senior hurling championship result after ref realises score error

Laois GAA has amended the final score of a round one game in the Laois Senior Hurling Championship between Portlaoise and Camross.

Laois GAA County Secretary Niall Handy confirmed to the Leinster Express / Laois Live that the result of the game has been changed to a draw. The new final result is Camross 5-13 Portlaoise 2-22 and not Portlaoise 2-22 Camross 5-12 as appeared on the scoreboard when the game ended in Laois Hire O'Moore Park around 5pm on Sunday, July 13. 

Mr Handy said the match result was changed after the referee realised that the final score had been recorded incorrectly. He said Laois GAA took steps to clarify the matter on Sunday by publishing the correct result on social media after the referee completed his final report. 

The new result was published, without statement or explanation, at 7.09 pm on Sunday on the CLG Laois facebook page. No result appeared for the game on Laois GAA Senior Hurling Championship Round 1 Recap published by the Laois PRO on Monday, July 14.

Mr Handy acknowledged that the result on the final whistle in Laois Hire O'Moore Park had Portlaoise winning by a point. However, he said the correct match result was declared around 6pm on Sunday evening when the referee submitted his report.

Mr Handy said the referee realised after the game that he had "made a mistake", which resulted in the scoreboard being in error after 60 minutes plus injury time. The County Secretary said the amended score stands as the referee's report is final on all matters.

Mr Handy was unable to elaborate as to how the referee had come to the realisation that the original final score was incorrect other than insisting that the referee had realised himself that a Camross score was incorrectly omitted. The County Secretary was of the view that all present at the game believed that the game ended in a draw.

The County Secretary said the issue would be discussed at a Laois GAA Competition Control Committee meeting and with the Laois GAA chairperson. As to whether a further statement would be issued to GAA members and the public about what transpired, Mr Handy said that he was of the view that the public is aware of what happened.

The Leinster Express / Laois Live reported that the referee requested that Camross have a point deducted on the scoreboard just after the second half water break, and had it not been altered, the result would have been a draw, but as it was in his notebook Portlaoise claimed the win.

The official score at the final whistle was thus recorded by the referee as 5-12 to 2-22.

The local controversy follows a national dispute caused by an incorrect score on the Croke Park scoreboard in the All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Final between Kilkenny and Tipperary.