Former Limerick hurler Niall Moran feels referee James Owens has been left "isolated" by the rule-makers amid the furore over his decision to award a penalty to Tipperary and sin-bin Aidan McCarthy during Sunday's Munster semi-final.
Owens deemed McCarthy's foul on Jake Morris just inside the 20-metre line in the left corner to be a goalscoring opportunity.
Speaking on RTÉ's Game On, Moran said he did not agree with the refereeing decision in real time or on reflection.
"In real time it was impossible to agree with and do I agree with it now, no. But he interpreted the rule as it was and probably carried it out to the letter of what it was written in," he said.
But pointing to the rule-book and interpretations, Moran highlighted the wording and feels the decision-makers should vocally back the referee.
"I know Fergal Horgan has done a piece earlier on in the year before the league ever started when he was quizzed about this whole idea of the sin bin and advantage," he said.
"Just one of the things that he said was that it never said at any point in the ruling that it needs to be a clear and obvious goalscoring chance.
Aidan McCarthy was sin-binned for this challenge and a penalty was also given in the crucial moment in this game. Did you agree with the decision? pic.twitter.com/rxa0JAdwCd
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 4, 2021
"And I think that word 'clear' is probably what is costing James Owens his night's sleep at the moment because he probably interpreted it and officiated that in the way that it was meant to be and I do have immense sympathy for him because I think he's been left isolated by the powers that be in refereeing, because nobody has really - not to my knowledge and I stand corrected - but nobody has jumped to his defence in that.
"For the powers that be who made these rules to sit silent as he gets slated again in public, I think it's wrong in so many facets.
"Look, the decision was made and it's not James' first bad decision but for everybody to sit by idle and let him take the flak, I think somebody has to jump to his defence at some stage."
Follow all the championship matches this weekend with our live blogs on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
Watch Leitrim v Mayo and Derry v Donegal live on RTÉ2 (from 1.30 pm Sunday) and see highlights of all the weekend's action on The Sunday Game at 9.30pm on RTÉ One.
Listen to live and exclusive national radio commentaries on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday and Sunday Sport.
