Miscellaneous
Dublin's hurlers provided the first major shock of the Championship as they tore up the script against Galway and on this week’s Throw-In podcast, John Mullane joined Will Slattery, Michael Verney and Roy Curtis to look back on all the controversies, highs and lows from the weekend action. With Galway’s status as the main rivals to Limerick now very much in doubt, Tipperary’s win over Clare sees them trying to stop John Kiely’s team achieving a Munster three-in-a-row. But it was for referee James Owen’s penalty and sin-bin decision against Clare’s Aidan McCarthy that proved the game’s key turning point. “For me it was an absolutely crazy call, an absolutely crazy call,” said Mullane on the podcast. “It effectively ruined the match and it was the shot in the arm that Tipperary needed to push on and win the game and it effectively was the winning of the game.” In the football, Dick Clerkin joined the panel and while Dublin stuttered against Wexford, they march on to a Leinster semi final against Meath; in Connacht, Galway were five point winners over Roscommon and in Ulster Monaghan and Armagh have set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash. But again it was off-pitch matters that’s been dominating with questions over Stephen Cluxton’s retirement still unanswered. “He deserves so much credit,” says Clerkin. “But you can't almost do that now if there's a chance he might come back and it might just peeter away and I think that's probably unfortunate, but that's Stephen's style, he'd probably be uncomfortable with all of that and if that's his wont, well so be it.” Listen and follow the Throw-In on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, with new episodes every Monday throughout the Championship. For more from the Throw-In, visit the show page at: www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-throw-in/ The Throw-In’s All Ireland Championship series is in association with Bord Gáis Energy.