Shefflin Shares Story That Casts New Light On 'Weird' Munster Final Ref Substitution

The 2025 Munster hurling final had pretty much everything. Incredible skill, huge hits, frustrating misses and in the end, the first penalty shootout in the history of the Munster Hurling Championship. When the dust had settled Cork were Munster champions and Limerick's seven in a row drive had been derailed.

After 70 grueling minutes, it must have been a huge challenge for both squads to regather themselves.

Referee Thomas Walsh was also feeling the pain. The ref cramped up in the 74th minute of the game. He'd been stretching his hamstrings during the break before extra time and clearly the intensity of the game took its toll.

He received some assistance from Limerick player Adam English but Walsh could not continue.

He looked despondent coming off the pitch and was replaced by fourth official James Owens.

It was a surreal thing to witness. Ultimately it was a sign of the physical toll of the game. Walsh famously advocated a 'let it flow' approach and he literally pushed himself to the physical limit across the game.

The tense extra time period and the spectacle of penalties for the first time in a Munster championship match was certainly novel, but there was a sentiment that it was an unfair way to decide a game of this magnitude.

Speaking between the extra time periods on RTÉ, Donal Óg Cusack said extra time in hurling 'disfigures' the sport.

He said:

I've said it before. I think this extra time disfigures the game. And I think that's a really good example in terms of what happened to the referee.

The fact that the referee couldn't complete the game backed that idea up.

Meanwhile, Henry Shefflin divulged details of an interesting conversation with Walsh before the game where the Waterfird ref said he'd been up in Dublin this week doing some fitness testing.

We met Thomas Walsh earlier on when we were having a cup of tea. It was interesting they said they were up in Abbotstown doing some testing and running last Wednesday up in Abbotstown. They obviously did a bit too much running!

It's interesting because a team would not train that hard during the week of a match. I just wonder if the refs were training too hard this week.

Speaking after the game, Cork star Alan Connolly spoke about how 'weird' it was to see a referee go off injured. 70 minutes of chasing those hurlers around will push any body to the limit.