Éamonn Fitzmaurice: Technology debate is one worth having
Dominique Farrell
Éamonn Fitzmaurice reckons Ger Brennan's frustrations with some decisions were justified in Dublin's four-point defeat to Kerry in Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final.
He also backed the Dublin manager's call for a form a video technology to tell whether or not a ball has gone over the goal line.
The former All-Ireland winning player and manager with Kerry was part of the GAA's Football Review Committee, which suggested changes which have led to a more exciting football championship in recent seasons.
Ger Brennan called for "video assisted technology... to come into play for key decisions" after a clear square ball was missed for the Kingdom's second goal.
The Dubs also felt they had a goal of their own missed, although replays weren't fully conclusive, while the awarding of a penalty to the Munster men in the first half was also open to debate.
Éamonn Fitzmaurice says that he can understand where Ger Brennan was coming from
"I can totally empathise with Ger," he said on RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
"I've been that soldier, on the other side versus Dublin in an All-Ireland semi-final.
"So I know what he's feeling like this morning in terms of the disappointment and frustration. They got so much right yesterday and they did come out on the wrong side of the big calls. There's no doubt about that."
On last night's Sunday Game, the panel of Ciarán Whelan, Cora Staunton and Rory Grugan all agreed that goal-line technology could help referees.
But they warned that a full Video Assistant Referee, with the ability to question each decision, could be disruptive, and this was something echoed by Eamonn Fitzmaurice.
"The whole technology debate is a debate worth having," he added.
"There will be a lot of questions as part of that debate. Is it only for Croke Park? Is it only for the inter-county game?
"With regard to the goal-line technology, it's probably an easy enough fix. The fact that Hawk-Eye is there already, I wouldn't imagine it's a stretch to get that to do the goal line check as well.
"Cora mentioned it last night in the Sunday Game about the score assist system that they have in the ladies game; either one of those is an easy enough fix.
"The whole VAR debate or the TMO in rugby... in soccer, in particular, we can see VAR is imperfect.
"The stop-start nature of that, that it brings to games. Often, how long it takes to make a decision. Sometimes it isn't even definitive. It's only moving the argument after the decision is made.
"So I would remain to be convinced, if VAR is the form of VAR that they use in soccer, is the answer.
"But, I can definitely understand the point that Ger is making there."
RTÉ News.