Ollie Horgan: 'I've said it year in, year out, that there's experienced officials out there and they've got to make a proper decision'

John Caulfield & Ollie Horgan

John Caulfield and Ollie Horgan Credit: Paul Dolan (ETPhotos)

Paul Corcoran reports from Eamonn Deacy Park

Galway United had a chance to make it to their first FAI Cup Final since 1991 in front of a packed Eamonn Deacy Park when they hosted Bohemians on Saturday afternoon. The Tribesmen were narrowly beaten by the visitors with a Dylan Connolly goal making the difference just before half-time.

The First Division champions gave a good account of themselves against their Premier Division opponents but unfortunately a good deal of the talking points after the game came down to officiating with numerous bookings given, and the sending off of Kacper Radkowski, by referee Neil Doyle.

For the home side an injury time penalty shout that wasn’t awarded was a key talking point when Galway United assistant manager Ollie Horgan spoke to the media after the game.

On the incident involving Bohemians’ captain Keith Buckley and Galway’s Stephen Walsh, Horgan said: “I've said it year in year out, that there's experienced officials out there and they've got to make a proper decision.

“And I'm not blaming that for losing, but the referee out there is the most experienced referee in the country, and he's got to see the pull. I think the whole country saw it.

“If you don't see it, you don't see it. However, that sounds like sour grapes.”

Later in the discussion Horgan returned to the incident to express his disappointment at the decision, he told the media that: “Probably the only tinge of disappointment is you've got the top official out there, but he missed a blatant penalty.

“Look, I'm sure that the league director will be ringing me, but I bit my tongue for 10 years, I've kept my mouth shut and I often felt that in Ballybofey that the decisions didn't go.

“But today it was an out and out penalty and we looked at in the camera before the end of the game and he got around. He was two yards away from it, three yards away from it.



“But like, is that why we lost? Maybe I'm clutching at straws.”

Horgan did go on to praise the performance of his side and he also singled out Jonathan Afolabi in particular for praise – the striker won the ball in a dangerous area to set up Connolly for the only goal of the game.

“I thought the lads, the endeavour and effort they put in all season and today in particular in the second-half was second to none.

“It’s like a moral victory and it's no good to put it that way. They were small margins. Afolabi caused a lot of problems in the first half, second-half, I thought we dealt with him when we when we got further up the pitch.

“I think we lacked maybe that little bit of quality in pressurised situations in the last, you know, 15 minutes. You saw the way that Bohs killed the game up on the right-hand side with Danny Grant and Afolabi keeping the ball in there for five or six minutes.

“That comes with experience and the positive side of it is that we play Bohs four times next year and we've got to learn from that today.



“But it's a cup semifinal. We got a home draw. We knew we were in with a with a big big shout. But we came out the wrong side of it.

“Congratulations to Declan. I know Declan for years and he's won the cup before with Derry and we wish him and Gary the very best in the final. There's certainly no animosity or no bad feeling with that.”

The Tribesmen faced three Premier Division clubs during their FAI Cup run, Horgan continued to praise his players and recognised that his side will face many more stern challenges in the Premier Division next year.

“Thought the lads were brilliant out there, that every one of them that came on the pitch, they went through a brick wall. You know, some of them are hurting physically.

“Some of them are hurting mentally in there. That's part of it. And there's going to be a lot of ups and downs next season, against the quality of the likes of Bohs and better again.

“But there's no point in hiding that that when Derry and Shamrock Rovers are out of this cup, it was wide open and unfortunately that door has closed on us.”

About Paul Corcoran

Paul Corcoran is an experienced writer and journalist and has contributed to various publications including the Galway United match programme Maroon View. He spends much of his time covering the fortunes of Galway United's teams … View Full Profile