Former Dublin footballer Michael Darragh Macauley believes bringing in goal-line technology should be a “no brainer” in the wake of his county’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Kerry.

The Dubs lost 2-18 to 0-20 at Croke Park on Sunday with a number of officiating calls causing consternation for the Dubs.

During the second half, Kerry’s Seán O’Brien flicked home the Kingdom’s second goal but replays appeared to show a square ball offence.

Later, Dublin were frustrated not to have a goal awarded when Ross McGarry’s palmed effort an effort on target.

While it was unclear if the ball had crossed the goal-line before it was blocked, a goal was not awarded much.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s Inside Sport, eight-time All-Ireland winner Macauley echoed growing calls for goal-line technology to be introduced although he stopped short of urging the need for a Video Assistant Referee like in soccer.

“It’s frustrating. I was obviously in Croke Park yesterday and my frustration grew when I went home and saw it on the telly. It was clear as day,” he said of the contentious calls.

“There are some really, really frustrating decisions there. Dublin came out really so strong in the start of the second-half with a three-point lead, momentum shift, big block on (David) Clifford.

“And then (they) went down the other end, and then obviously the goal wasn’t counted, and then the obvious square ball.

“So instead of being six points up, we’re now at a tie game, and it’s a whole different ball game. So it’s hugely frustrating.

“And I know the lads themselves don’t want to sound like sore losers spitting this narrative, and us having these conversations here, but it is hugely frustrating.

“You’d like to think common sense would prevail in terms of some of the technology that needs to be brought in around goal-line.

“Going into the whole VAR thing is a whole probably different kettle of fish maybe, in terms of do we want to take the momentum out of the game, but I think the goal line is a no-brainer for me.”


Kilkenny confirmed his retirement from the inter-county scene earlier on Monday

Macauley also paid tribute to former team-mate Ciarán Kilkenny who called time on his illustrious inter-county career after the defeat to Kerry.

“Ciarán is the real deal. I remember bringing Sam Maguire into schools in Castleknock in 2011 with Eamonn Fennell and they were like, ‘We want to bring this young fella up to you’, and they brought this fifth year student up on stage with us,” he recalled.

“Who was this skinny young fella? And it turned out to be Ciarán Kilkenny and he was like, ‘One day I’ll be playing with you’. Mother of God did he.

“Ciarán really was a standard-bearer for us. I’m not sure if there’s ever been a player as consistent as Ciarán.

“Maybe there are players that might have burned brighter for certain periods, but Ciarán, since he came in in 2012, there’s not a lot of players that have ever played for Dublin, maybe ever played the game that have been as consistent as Ciarán.

“He kind of embodies everything that the GAA is about. He’s so passionate about club and county. So I was absolutely stopped in my tracks when I heard that news today.

“I bumped into Ciarán after the game yesterday. I had a chat with him, that little bit (of news) must have slipped from him, the bit of information. He didn’t tell me.

“I was shocked, I was shocked. I’ll thought he had a couple of years, at least, in him. What a servant, he owes no one nothing in terms of what he’s done for football. So yeah, looking forward to see what the path is next for him. But Jesus, he’ll be missed.”

Kilkenny’s depature from the scene will only add to the gloom for Dublin supporters but Macauley felt they could take pride in the team’s progress through what had been a topsy-turvy year on and off the pitch.

“That’s a bit of salt in the wounds today with Ciarán. It’s tough. I suppose it’s been a rollercoaster of a season for Dublin,” he said.

“And I think if you come two years ago, there was bad blood around Dublin, and when you spoke to the average Dublin fan and people that were passionate about Dublin, they were worried about what was going on.

“And I suppose there are numerous events there, the whole Ger Brennan saga, everything that was going on, the string of injuries, and sport is fickle and it turned very quickly and Ger was back and we had a couple of lads come back from injury – Ross McGarry, Colm Basquel – things looked a lot more positive.

“We can be proud of this Dublin team in terms of how they handled themselves this year. I really hope all those lads are sleeping easy. I’m sure they’re p*ssed off but I hope they sleep easy in terms of the workload that they put in this year because myself and the rest of the lads are very proud of what happened this year.

“Yesterday was a tough battle. If we play Kerry ten times, realistically they might beat us seven or eight times potentially this year.

“But we we had a serious shot of beating them yesterday and yeah, not to be and a couple of reasons why.”

Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship final, Galway v Limerick, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on all matches on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1