Former All-Ireland-winning Cork captain Tomas Mulcahy has told the RTÉ GAA Podcast that Davy Fitzgerald's "unacceptable" behaviour should have seen him "put up into the stand" after he entered the field of play during Wexford's Allianz Hurling League Division 1 semi-final loss to Tipperary.
Fitzgerald was enraged when James Breen was not awarded a free out in the run-up to Tipp's second goal, lashed home by Noel McGrath, and could not contain his emotions.
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He walked onto the pitch to make his feelings known to referee Diarmuid Kirwan, clashing with Premier players Niall O’Meara and Jason Forde as things boiled over at Nowlan Park.
Mulcahy said things could have got even uglier, and criticised Kirwan for not taking a harder stance on the incident.
"We all know what Davy is about," Mulcahy said.
"We know he's passionate, and that's fantastic, and it brings an awful lot to the game - I'm sure it's bringing an awful lot to the dressing-room.
"Behind all that as he has a bit of a hurling brain and he puts an awful lot into teams and building camaraderie; he's fantastic at that. But I think it was just unacceptable from his side of things.
"You cannot enter the field of play. You cannot be squaring up to opponents. You cannot be shouldering players. Maybe the disappointment was from the referee, that he actually let him go back on to the sideline.
"I thought he should have been put up into the stand. It could have been a serious free-for-all if other players had joined in.
"There were frees given against Tipperary were everyone felt they were harsh frees. You didn't see Michael Ryan running in off the field. He's not allowed to cross the white line to go in and challenge a player.
"It's not good enough. He's a linesman beside him, he can air his grievances to the linesman, there's a fourth official behind him, but all he wanted to do was go in to Diarmuid Kirwan and it could have turned out to be pretty nasty. When he sees it again he'll agree he was out of order."
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Wexford have enjoyed a remarkable spring, gaining promotion from Division 1B and creating a real buzz in the county.
Fitzgerald's arrival has sparked huge optimism among their supporters and, despite yesterday's defeat, Mulcahy said the Model County have every right to be excited about the future.
"You've Galway and Limerick in 1B as well. (Promotion) was no foregone conclusion at the start of the year when Davy went down to Wexford Park," he said..
"They're going to be playing serious, serious competition next year. This Division 1A, the five games that you play, they're leagues apart.
"They're close enough to championship matches.... they bring out the best in teams and he's going to have the benefit of that next year, which will be brilliant."
