Ollie Horgan raged last night at the reaction of referee Tomás Connolly when the Finn Harps manager queried a decision at half-time.
Harps were incensed that they weren’t awarded a penalty in the 23rd minute when Chris Mulhall appeared to pull back Damien McNulty in the area.
Picture: Damien McNulty is challenged by Drogheda United’s Chris Mulhall in an incident that enraged Harps boss Ollie Horgan. Picture by Joe Boland, North West News Pix
Harps were leading 1-0 at the time, although Horgan’s men ended up losing 3-2.
Horgan sought out Connolly at the interval in the clubhouse, but found the official’s reaction less than satisfactory.
“The manner in which he explained it to me at half-time leaves a very nasty taste in my mouth,” Horgan said.
“We’re all people with professions, but I find maybe the avoidance of an answer…”
Horgan suggested that he had called Connolly by his ‘wrong name’.
The Harps boss noted: “I should have used an Irish version.”
It appears that Horgan referred to the referee by ’Tom’ or ‘Thomas’ and was given a short shift by the Dubliner.
Horgan and his assistant Paul Hegarty reacted furiously at the time of the incident.
The Harps manager said: “I don’t like blaming referees and I’m not. We lost that game regardless of the penalty. But that left a very sour taste in my mouth with the manner he dismissed a question at half-time.
“We’re all men. We all make mistakes, me included. We all make mistakes and that isn’t the problem. We’re all human beings who go to work in the morning.
“I maybe shouldn’t be saying that, but at least I’m honest and I have held back quite a lot. This isn’t the first time it’s happened with this official.”
In a 2-0 win over Limerick in September, Connolly banished Horgan to the stands after sending Kilian Cantwell off.
Last September, it was Connolly who made the late decision to postpone a game against St Patrick’s Athletic at Finn Park after deeming that an area of the Ballybofey venue was unplayable.
In a 2014 FAI Cup semi-final, also against St Pat’s, Horgan, along with midfielder Gareth Harkin and then physio Mickey McGlynn were all red carded. Connolly was fourth official that afternoon and reported Horgan and McGlynn to the referee Derek Tomney.