Davy Dons a White Coat

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Role Reversal: Davy Dons a White Coat

Davy Fitzgerald will often profess to being mad about hurling, but few would have imagined his passion would lead to him being taken away by the men in the white coats.

Fear not, though, Davy hasn't flown to the cuckoo's nest, but he did don an umpire’s uniform over the weekend, acting as one of Clare referee Fintan McNamara’s officials in the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship semi-final between Cork and Wexford at Nowlan Park.

During his playing days, the former Banner goalkeeper was known for screaming ‘wide’ and waving his hands furiously at any shot that came within radar sight of his goal – even those that sailed over his black spot - but we are happy to report that Davy’s myopia has cleared up since his retirement and he was spot on with all his calls on Saturday.

After a summer in which managers have been quick to call into question the competence of the men in the white coats, it was refreshing to see Fitzgerald put his reputation on the line and experience a match from a very different perspective.

The next time he feels an official has made a dubious call perhaps he will think twice about giving them an earful. Maybe it’s something some of his managerial counterparts could try…

Stat Attack: Tyrone's Day of Woe 

Ok, we admit it, Sideline Snippets has a problem; we are hopelessly addicted to statistics.

We guessed at least some records had tumbled in Dublin’s 0-22 to 0-15 defeat of Tyrone in the All-Ireland semi-final two Saturdays ago, but as much as we poured through the minutiae of the data, we couldn’t quite put our finger on a single record that deserved to be brought to the attention of our loyal readers.

That is until it was made known to us that the 22 scores Tyrone conceded was the most they had ever shipped in a Championship game.

They may have conceded 1-19 against Down in 2008, but that was after extra-time and still amounts to just 20 different scores.

They shipped 4-10 in the Ulster final against Armagh in 1980 and while that may again yield a total of 22 points against, it amounts to just 14 separate scores.

Tyrone’s biggest Championship defeat came against Cavan in 1946, when they conceded a whopping 8-13 but still managed to keep the number of scores below 22.

Ryan Takes Pole

Dubin’s Paul Ryan is now the overwhelming favourite to finish top of the scoring charts for the 2011 GAA Hurling Championship after he hit 0-9 in the All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Tipperary to move six points clear of Cork’s Patrick Horgan on 2-47 (53).

As Eoin Kelly (34), Lar Corbett (30) and Henry Shefflin (28) are the only other players currently in the top 10 due to play in the All-Ireland final on September 4, Ryan’s total is likely to be good enough to land him the prize in September.

Kelly, for example, would need an unprecedented personal tally of 0-19 in the final to overhaul Ryan. The biggest individual total in an All-Ireland final over the last 25 years is the 2-12 (18) Tipperary’s Nicholas English scored in the 1989 decider against Antrim.

Kelly, incidentally, top scored in the 2009 All-Ireland final against Kilkenny with 0-13, a repeat of which would leave him in joint second place with Horgan on 47 points.

Should Lar Corbett manage a repeat of last year’s final performance, when he snaffled three goals against Kilkenny, he would finish in the top five scorers for the year – the twist being that he would finish the Championship with more goals than points (10-9).

Click here to see the top 10 scoring charts for the 2011 GAA Football and Hurling Senior Championships. 

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