The 16th man...the story so far

There is no other way to describe this All-Ireland Club Football Final saga except as a total mess.

No matter what side of the argument you are on, there are no winners and no matter what the Central Communications Competitions Committee (CCCC) decide later this morning, there will always be an asterisk over this season's All Ireland Club Football Final between Dublin kingpins Kilmacud Crokes and Glen from Maghera, Co Derry.

We can speak glowingly about the sportsmanship of both clubs and the quality of football produced in Croke Park on 22 January 2023 but ultimately all that is relevant today is the last sequence of play hovering around the 63rd minute deep into injury time as Glen sought salvation and a winning goal as they trailed by two points to the Dublin and Leinster Champions.

Kilmacud Crokes were well within their rights to introduce as many substitutes as they were entitled to at the time.

Glen likewise were entitled to be taking that much talked about 45 metre free in the 63rd minute knowing that they had numerical equality on the field with their opponents.

Instead at that precise time it was 16 against 15.

You could argue that Glen seemed to take the free quickly and the extra Crokes player had no involvement whatsoever with that last sequence of play.

But crucially Crokes has 16 players on the field for that last free. And that is unfair.

Equally unfair is to blame Kilmacud Crokes in any way. Like Glen they did nothing wrong.

They were indulging in game management by bringing in substitutes at that time and if I was in charge of my own club team, I would have done the exact same thing. No guilt on Crokes. No guilt on Glen.

Malachy O'Rourke, the Glen manager gave his personal opinion after the match and it was very