{"id":644716,"date":"2026-08-19T03:12:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T03:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/644716\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T03:12:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T03:12:24","slug":"i-used-to-always-throw-the-ball-seamus-flanagan-adds-fuel-to-hurling-handpass-debate-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/644716\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I used to always throw the ball\u2019: S\u00e9amus Flanagan adds fuel to hurling handpass debate \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five-time All-Ireland winning hurler<\/a> S\u00e9amus Flanagan has weighed into the debate around thrown balls in hurling, saying: \u201cI used to always throw the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appearing in a recent episode of Off The Ball, the former Limerick<\/a> hurler was asked if players are throwing the ball rather than handpassing.<\/p>\n

The Feohanagh-Castlemahon clubman clarified: \u201cNo, I usen\u2019t always throw the ball. If I was in acres of room, I\u2019d handpass if off, but if I was in a tight situation, get the ball out of there, like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given the speed of the game, Flanagan said of officials, \u201cthey\u2019re not going to call it\u201d, but added: \u201cWhen you\u2019re in a situation like that, how is the referee supposed to call that? He\u2019s 20 yards away, there\u2019s no way on earth. It\u2019s the biggest guessing game of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked again by host Colm Boohig whether he thought players are throwing the sliotar, Flanagan said: \u201c100 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can get away with it,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause, if you think about it, what a referee wants is for you to go up [with your hand] and handpass, like, separation from your hand. Any player [doing that] at a high-level sport is going to get that taken off them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The GAA\u2019s official guide outlines that, for a handpass in hurling, \u201cthe ball shall be released and struck with a definite striking action of a hand\u201d. It adds: \u201cThe releasing of the ball is considered an integral part of the handpass.\u201d Without the release, it is considered a thrown ball and a technical foul under Rule 4.2(b).<\/p>\n

Handpassing in hurling has repeatedly cropped up as a point of debate in recent seasons. During the 2024 All-Ireland semi-final against Limerick, Cork\u2019s Brian Hayes had a first-half goal ruled out after referee Thomas Walsh adjudged Alan Connolly to have thrown the sliotar in the lead-up to the score. Walsh also subsequently awarded frees against Cork\u2019s Ethan Twomey and Limerick\u2019s Aaron Gillane for the same infringement.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0 Sport Computer-generated corners? Robot caddies? As sport embraces AI, nothing is ridiculousOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Speaking on The Sunday Game after Cork\u2019s victory, Donal \u00d3g Cusack took issue with the three frees, believing they were all legitimate examples of the \u201cmodern handpass\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d just wonder where that noise is coming from into the referee\u2019s ears that they\u2019re making decisions like this,\u201d the former Cork goalkeeper said. <\/p>\n

\u201cBefore there\u2019s any decisions, or any thought of decisions around [changing] the handpass, you need to get the top players involved. You need to acknowledge the skill set that they have, and also acknowledge the positive impact … that the evolution of the handpass has made to our game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five-time All-Ireland winning hurler S\u00e9amus Flanagan has weighed into the debate around thrown balls in hurling, saying: \u201cI…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[76],"tags":[18,129,16750,19,17,13889,132],"class_list":["post-644716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-eire","tag-hurling","tag-hurling-championship","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-limerick-gaa","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117119991681704318","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}