GAA: Birr manager Pad Joe Whelahan has called the GAC's decision to ban him from the sideline for the All-Ireland club hurling final as "a real slap in the face".
Whelahan received word yesterday of a two-game exclusion from the sideline as a result of unauthorised pitch incursions during Birr's semi-final win over Athenry in Ennis on February 16th.
It means Whelahan will have to watch the St Patrick's Day final against Dunloy from the stands of Croke Park - a situation he feels could seriously jeopardise Birr's chances of winning a record fourth All-Ireland club hurling title.
"I just don't know what I did wrong," he said. "Neither the linesman nor the referee talked to me in Ennis at any point about doing anything out of line.
"I was just doing my job, looking after the interests of my players, and honestly didn't feel I was doing anything wrong.
"Right now, I'm really down about it. We've done so much work coming up to the final, and now I'm hit with this before the biggest game of the year. So it's a real slap in the face.
"And I think the GAA are going to have to look at this whole situation again or else they are going to ruin the thing."
The charge, however, resulted from the report of the match monitor, who watches both on and off field proceedings from the stand, and who is understood to have made several references to the illegal pitch incursions.
Whelahan attended the GAC meeting at Croke Park in an effort to have the charge discarded, and also explain what exactly he was doing on the sideline in Ennis.
"Well I just apologised three or four times if they felt I had done something wrong. And I asked for leniency coming up to the All-Ireland final as well. But I didn't say a whole lot more, because sometimes the more you say in these situations the worse off you are.
"But I think the whole thing is very wrong. I don't deserve this. I mean I looked at the video again and I know I interfered with no one. If things start to go wrong now on the day of All-Ireland then we could be in real trouble."
Whelahan normally has only one assistant, Paul Murphy, working with him on the sideline.
"He wouldn't have my sort of experience," added Whelahan, "and we needed to work close together for this final to go right. With me sitting in the stands, it's going to be very hard."
The enthusiasm that Whelahan typically displays on the sideline has long been a part of the Birr success story. He in fact suffered a similar two-game sideline ban as a result of pitch incursions during last year's All-Ireland final victory, which meant he also watched from the stands the opening two games in this year's Leinster championship against St Mullins and Castletown.
"I was actually yellow carded in last year's final," he explained. "But there was no warning here. Of course, I came on the field this time, but I only did so to look after the interests of my players."
In one instance, he said, he thought that Stephen Browne had swallowed his tongue. Another time, Gary Cahill had to be replaced as a blood substitute, but the referee did not stop the game.
"I think you have to have give and take in these situations and I believe that the people who make the rules are not in touch with reality and appreciate the problems which a manager faces in fast moving matches which often call for split-second decisions."
The GAC also handed down a two-match sideline ban to Cavan football manager Mattie Kerrigan for similarly unauthorised pitch incursions during the NFL game against Fermanagh in February.
