The journalist who was involved in an altercation with Davy Fitzgerald after Clare's drawn All-Ireland hurling qualifier with Wexford a fortnight ago has claimed referees are reluctant to give the Banner frees because of the manager's sideline histrionics.

Writing in the Clare Champion in the wake of last weekend's replay defeat to the Model County, Peter O'Connell stated: "Johnny Ryan and his umpires did disallow a Wexford goal that looked legitimate, while the decision to award Clare an injury-time '65' was definitely a tight one.

"Those calls aside, there is no doubt that Wexford were afforded a number of tight calls. Davy Fitzgerald's constant badgering of referees is not helping in this regard.

"Referees have probably not made a conscious decision to make Clare earn their frees, but that is what happened in 2014. Still, much of what has gone wrong for Clare is down to themselves and placing responsibility for their exit purely on refereeing decisions is purely delusional."

O'Connell, who also claimed that key decisions taken by the management cost Clare, was involved in a heated verbal exchange with Fitzgerald outside the Clare dressing-room after the original game at Cusack Park before Pat Fitzgerald, father of the All-Ireland winning manager and Clare secretary, stepped in and removed the reporter from the area.

Davy Fitzgerald subsequently banned O'Connell from attending any future press briefings, having issued a statement to the Clare Champion in which he expressed his annoyance at what he saw as the journalist's constant criticism of him and his management. Tweet

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