Wexford boss Rossiter dismayed by awarding of Dublin goal after sliotar didn't appear to cross line

KEITH ROSSITER BELIEVES his Wexford team were victims of a couple of huge refereeing errors during their Leinster Senior Hurling Championship defeat to Dublin.

Dublin levelled the game in the 50th minute with a Sean Currie goal from a penalty, though goalkeeper Mark Fanning initially blocked the shot and Wexford boss Rossiter was adamant the ball didn’t go over the line.

Rossiter also pointed to a free awarded minutes earlier against Kevin Foley for a thrown pass, which Currie also converted.

In a game that Wexford lost by four points, Rossiter argued that they were important decisions that shouldn’t have been given against his side, although he also acknowledged that Dublin may still have won without them.

Asked what went wrong in the second half for Wexford, who went from leading by three to a four-point loss, Rossiter cut a frustrated figure.

“I don’t know if things went wrong,” he said. “It was ding-dong there for a long time. If you’re really asking me what went wrong, did you get a look at the penalty? You might have a look back at that and you’ll see that it’s a six-point swing.

I wouldn’t be happy with it at all. I’m not saying we’d have beaten Dublin, they’re a good side, but those are the things that make a massive difference in a game like that, especially in Parnell Park.

“We were three up, we stopped a penalty, it doesn’t cross the line, it’s given. A six-point swing. It is what it is. What can we do only regroup and get ready to play Galway in Salthill but I wouldn’t go along the lines of, ‘What happened to us in the second-half?’”

Asked how he felt the referee did overall in the game, Rossiter was again critical.

“I wouldn’t be happy with it, to be dead honest with you, the biggest factor being the penalty not being over the line. That’s massive.

“And I thought Kevin Foley at a crucial stage in the game went back and won the ball and there was no way he could have thrown the ball, he hand-passed it off, yet he was done for a throw.

“If you look at it the other way, there were a lot of throws not given. Look, we have a lot of work to do as well. Our defending at times was poor, they got in for a couple of goal opportunities at times without a hand being laid on them which we wouldn’t be happy with.

“We made some poor decisions at times which we need to work on. But refereeing as a whole, no, wasn’t happy with it. When two umpires are able to tell Mark Fanning afterwards that the ball didn’t cross the line, I don’t know what the umpires are there for if that’s the case, if you’re not going to use them.

“That’s what I’m being told. I looked at the video, the ball didn’t cross the line. I could see it from where I was, I didn’t think it crossed the line.”

Dublin manager Niall O Ceallachain focused on the performance of Man of the Match John Hetherton who struck 2-3 and gave perhaps his best display yet for Dublin.

“He was brilliant and we felt he could do that sort of damage on a day like today,” said O Ceallachain. “The challenge for Hedgo now is that we need the same in two weeks’ time, in three weeks’ time, in four weeks’ time.”