There were shades of the 1998 All-Ireland hurling semi-final replay between Offaly and Clare when a club from the Faithful County staged a sit-down protest after they suffered a controversial defeat at the Feile nÓg in Cavan today.

St. Broughan's claimed they had a perfectly good point disallowed in the closing stages of their 3-7 to 3-8 loss to local club Gowna in the Division 1 Shield final. So irate were St. Broughan's with the decision that club official Lorraine O'Neill confronted GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghaíl in the Kingspan Breffni stand after the final whistle.

She told Midlands 103: "I went up to the presentation stand and I spoke to the GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghaíl. The president of the GAA fobbed me off. He told me that he was going by the referee.

"I also went to the Gowna management and asked them not to proceed with the presentation because we all know that this game was a draw. We had a point that wasn't put on the scoreboard and everybody knows it wasn't put on the scoreboard.

"This is not a Mickey Mouse match - this is a final and our children have played their hearts out. This is all about sportsmanship and fairness but there is nothing fair about walking away with a win that is not a win - it's a draw. All we asked for was extra time, and that would have been fair, but Gowna have gone home with a tarnished Shield - they didn't win."

Ms O'Neill went on to explain how club members had decided to stage a sit-down protest, just as Offaly fans had done in Croke Park after referee Jimmy Cooney's infamous time-keeping error nearly 20 years ago.

"Offaly people sat on the pitch in 1998 due to unfairness and Offaly people will sit in Breffni Park here today and we will right this wrong".

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