Derry PRO Gerry Donnelly said the county, however, had to make its protest over the result out of respect for "the squad, the supporters and sponsors."

"We knew it was always going to be a long shot. But the point has to be made that a huge investment in time and energy and emotion, not to say significant financial resources, were invested over a number of years in this Derry Minor squad.

"Some of the lads involved have been working towards the objective of an Ulster final for the past three or four years. To have it all destroyed, by what can only be described as human error, is very, very hard to take.

For people to come out and try and make the point that what goes around comes around is of very little comfort to those Derry lads.

Inside that dressing room after that final was a hard place to be. You can accept it if you have been well beaten by a totally superior side. But on the basis of legitimate scores from both teams the least we deserved was a replay.

"The Ulster Minor championship will go down as a statistic in the record books.

What will not be recorded is that Tyrone, through no fault of their own achieved the honour with a score that didn't happen, " said Donnelly.

Regarded as one of the most influential figures on the Derry County Board, he said the time is "long overdue" for the GAA to explore every technical advance in order to ensure sporting fairness.

What is surprising about Donnelly's call is that the debate surrounding such a clear injustice, one that is an indictment of the GAA's failure to embrace modern technology, has been so tepid.

The technology is there. It is perfectly feasible to implement a satisfactory system to ensure such blatant miscarriages do not occur.

Other sports have used technical advances to help adjudicate on issues where the referee is unsure. It has not led to the collapse of the intrinsic role of the referee.

Gerry Donnelly believes if the GAA can avail of video evidence as part of its overall arbitration policy in other contentious areas, it cannot any longer exclude the "vital area of scoring."

"After all that is where our games ultimately depend for their survival upon. Cricket, tennis and rugby are sports where the introduction of modern technical aids has made the resolution of disputed topics one of fairness rather than resentment.

"This season soccer will also start the process of introducing goal-line technology with a view to eventually having a standardised format across that code. The GAA has the ability to invest huge sums in various sectors of our games to make sure they reflect a modern approach, both for the players and the public. But, until the technology revolution is implemented as widely as possible, it's going to be hard to argue against the claim that, despite all the GAA's cash reserves, large numbers of individuals will continue to feel they are being short-changed."

Nobody in Clones disputed that Tyrone's single-point victory margin was achieved by an error in judgement by an umpire.

The ball that had been signalled as being a legitimate score was patently well wide of the uprights. Within seconds the video replays of the incident emphasised the mistake.

However, referee Con Reynolds, officiating in his first provincial decider, didn't have the benefit of modern replay technology. The provision of a whistle and a notebook and pencil and audio links to his officials was as good as it got.

When his umpires made the controversial call he had to go with the flow. The 20th minute point stood. It was fait accompli for Tyrone. It was good night for Derry.

After the game the Tyrone management admitted the score was not one that should have been allowed. It was acknowledged as being a cruel blow for a group of young football players to have to try and cope with.

But, and of course there was always going to be a but, the get-out clause from the Tyrone management perspective was that it would not be fair to their players if they had to hand back their trophy and medals in order to facilitate a replay. It was always going to be in the gift of Tyrone to make the magnanimous gesture. The Tyrone Board took all parts of the mix into consideration. The collective decision was that things should be allowed to stay as they were.

Given the circumstances it was the right approach.

What has, however, to be changed is that those wrong circumstances shouldn't be allowed to continue to dictate the delivery of patently wrong decisions. To put forward the argument that no blame should be apportioned in a process that has punished so many young people, so unfairly, is to take the coward's path.

Some people said it didn't matter that much because the disputed point was recorded after 20 minutes.

Pundit Tommy Lyons argued that there were another 40 minutes plus in which Derry could have rectified the fault.

It is a morally flawed thesis.

It does not matter if a score that never was is recorded in the first few seconds of a match or in injury time at the end. If a mistake is made, one with the devastating implications of denying a team the right to compete on a fair basis with its opponents then that cannot be right.

It cannot be justified in the context of time played or time left. It should not be written off as one of the quirks of playing competitive football in the emotionally-charged atmosphere of a final. There should, however, be no blame directed at the Tyrone Minors. Gerry Donnelly agrees.

"They played the game as it should have been played.

They were adjudged the winners."

But Tyrone being allowed to lift the trophy in such controversial circumstances will forever leave a sour taste.

To be crowned as champions while the tarnish of controversy has deprived Tyrone of celebrating with a clear conscience. That group of players will always have to cope with the unanswered questions of what might have been. That is a burden that no team, no individual player should have to carry.

The fact that, as the beaten finalist, Derry still have a backdoor escape route rather than a trapdoor closure on their championship aspirations is important.

However, it still does not compensate for what happened. The hard fact is that, for the vast majority of those Derry players, a fortnight ago in Clones represented the last time they would ever play in a provincial final.

The very essence of sport will always be predicated on human frailties. That is inevitable. But equally those charged with the administration of sport have to ensure human frailty is not used as an excuse for unfairness.