Ultimately, we might have the sensible case of the man in the middle who didn't see Matty Forde trod on the head of Offaly full-back Shane Sullivan, for instance, joining the Wexford corner-forward in the GAA's giant sin-bin for three months. In this case, since the offence was shown on the giant screens at either end of Croke Park, we might also toss in his two linesmen for a couple of weeks each. Open your eyes boys.

Last Sunday, Mr Duffy from Sligo, who had the great honour of officiating at the Leinster football final between Dublin and Offaly, would be in trouble.

And so too would his colleagues, Mr Doyle from Wexford and Mr Russell from Tipperary, who refereed the Munster and Connacht finals in Pairc Ui Chaoimh and Castlebar respectively.

The latter pair could be facing at least one month each for bad decision-making which damaged two games of football . . .

one which helped Mayo to a provincial crown which, in truth, should not have been handed out for another six days.

A provincial final should not be decided like this. A video replay, if such a simple method of dispensing fair play in Gaelic football was in place, would have shown that Galway's Finian Hanley did not foul Billy Joe Padden in the final seconds. If there was an offender, it was Padden.

A 'ref in the sky' would have sided with Hanley . . . even if he was in two minds.

That's the way it works. No team should be knocked out of the championship unless such a high-value foul is indisputable. Conor Mortimer, admittedly, showed a cool head in curling over the winning point from the free, but he shouldn't have been allowed that special pleasure.

Equally, in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork and James Masters got away with murder when he took seven and a half steps in front of Mr Doyle before scoring the goal which really left Kerry on their knees in the Munster final replay. Maybe Kerry were going to be KO'd anyway.

But Mr Doyle should have had the clear headedness to award a free out . . .

and if that had happened who knows whether Kerry would have searched for that little bit more in the final, hectic 10 minutes. I doubt it. Cork were ravenous. They are not the greatest Cork team Billy Morgan has produced, but they look a fantastically gutsy bunch.

Mr Russell and Mr Doyle could be given a one-month suspension each for their bad decision-making, and both men might be happy with that. Meanwhile, back in Croker, before Mr Duffy ran for the hills and exited the field by the first available tunnel as thousands and thousands of Dublin fans raced on, he had made a complete hames of this game of football.

Like Kerry against Cork, it's unlikely that Offaly were ever going to be good enough for Dublin over the full 70 minutes. But they deserved a fair and legitimate shot at winning their first Leinster title in almost a decade.

The two frees which allowed Dublin to break free from a game drawn at 0-7 each and suddenly enjoy a two-point advantage were simply outrageous decisions. In neither case did the Offaly defender foul his opponent.

How he didn't give Stephen Cluxton a straight red (right) was his lowest point of the afternoon, however. The Dublin keeper took Cathal Daly out and almost certainly prevented a goal which might have thrown this match into the lap of the gods.

Dublin were playing poorly throughout that first half. They were still 'flat' deep into the second-half, and they had Mr Duffy as well as the excellent Jason Sherlock to thank for this second Leinster title in succession.

I hope Mr Duffy sees no more games in this championship.

Dublin, however, with their poorest performance of the summer behind them, look like they will get their teeth into the months of August and September.

Their management and back-up team is excellent, their defence is excellent, Ciaran Whelan was excellent last Sunday (but, God knows, Ciaran McManus should have been smart enough to deal with his opposite number before being wiped off the face of the earth within 20 minutes), the team's strength in depth on the sideline is excellent, but the Dublin forward division is, still, only decent-togood.

Offaly held their men and withheld the barrage from the Dublin half-back line and midfield for almost a full hour.

Granted, individually, the Offaly defenders played some inspired tight-marking football, but given the dominance which Dublin enjoyed in the middle third of the field, Paul Caffrey knows that too many of his forwards are hit-and-miss.

Dublin have just had their one really poor performance of the summer. After last weekend, no one, anymore, is talking about their two-point victory over Longford as being anywhere below par (well done, Luke). They have three games to go over two months . . . Galway, Mayo and Kerry or Armagh in the All Ireland final, most likely. All of these teams, apart from Mayo, have a stronger and more lethal forward division than Dublin.

That's the horrible truth for Caffrey, and that's why the rest of this summer might remain a scary bare-knuckle ride for the man who has his hands tied behind his back.