Year in Review- Scoreboard error proves sore point for Cats hurling followers

When you look back on the intercounty season of 2025, it’s impossible to get away from the controversy that surrounded the ending to the All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final between Kilkenny and Tipperary.

Derek Lyng’s men lost out by two points in Croke Park last July with a wonder goal from 18-year-old Oisin O’Donoghue sending the Premier County into the decider which they ultimately won as they brought the Liam MacCarthy Cup back to the county for the first time since 2019.

The last four affair between the two neighbours was a chaotic clash with Jason Forde, Darragh McCarthy and subsequent Hurler of the Year John McGrath bagging first half goals as they continued their championship dominance over the Cats.

The final score read 4-20 to 0-30 in Tipperary’s favour but that only tells half the story of what occurred.

The result was initially given as 4-21 to 0-30 but was amended after Noel McGrath’s 70th-minute effort had been incorrectly awarded as a point.

McGrath fired over a shot just as the clock struck 70 minutes, his effort greeted by cheers from the Tipp fans on Hill 16 but the umpire on the near post waved the effort wide.

However, the scoreboards in Croke Park, as well as graphic on the television coverage, all updated to include McGrath’s point, showing the score as 4-21 to 0-29 as the game entered the first of four added minutes.

Coming seconds after Oisín O’Donoghue’s late goal, Tipperary also made a substitution at the same time in a chaotic period of the game.

Believing they were four points behind, Kilkenny immediately went in search of a goal. In the next attack Eoin Cody tried to burrow through for a green-flag despite an opportunity for a relatively straightforward point.

Jordan Molloy took a point in added time to reduce to gap to three points as per the scoreboards in Croke Park but really two points in light of the error. In the dying moments Kilkenny continued to try force a goal they thought they needed to level the match rather than picking off points.

Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng raised no issue regarding the confusion after the game but there is no doubting that the whole situation proved to be a massive own goal for the GAA. It could have been even worse after the game finished, with Kilkenny captain John Donnelly having a goal attempt brilliantly blocked on the line by Robert Doyle.

In Kilkenny minds, a goal there would have brought the game to extra-time but the reality is they would have officially won the game - a major incident could have transpired had that occurred.

Tipperary winning the All-Ireland title at the expense of Cork just a fortnight later only added to the angst on Noreside and while it’s clear a big error occurred, just where the blame lies is another question.

A couple of weeks after the incident, Kilkenny Co. Board Chairman PJ Kenny outlined his thoughts on the situation.

“There was communication that evening after the match,” he said. “There was extreme frustration from the players, management, and county board, and all the fans, as well, who paid to go to the match.

“There was deep frustration, we were in talks with Croke Park from the very start of that evening,” the chairman added. “We knew it was never going to a replay. There’s no rule that allows for that, and we were told that fairly straightaway.

“We talked to them, but we didn’t want it broadcast all over the front pages. We did talk to Croke Park regularly on the Sunday and Monday and we looked for an explanation.”

Added to that, the Kilkenny County Board were told by the GAA the scoreboard error that impacted them in this year’s All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final was ‘unacceptable’ and ‘should never have occurred’.

In his report to Kilkenny’s annual convention a few weeks ago, county secretary Seamus Reade highlighted that Croke Park agreed what befell the county was wrong.

“The GAA subsequently apologised to Kilkenny stating that ‘it was unacceptable that this should happen on one of the biggest days of the year in Croke Park’.

“They further went on to say that ‘they were acutely aware and did not take for granted the levels of preparation and sacrifice that go into getting a team to progress this deep into a Championship season only for it to end in what ultimately were circumstances beyond Kilkenny’s control and which should never have occurred’.”