Down boss Conor Laverty says refereeing is “a hard gig” these days with the new football rules which have been implemented.

Laverty was speaking after his side’s loss to Meath at the weekend at Pairc Esler where the Royals were awarded a two-pointer in the first-half despite Ronan Jones’s shot being clearly taken inside the 40-metre arc.

While Laverty did seek clarification from referee Sean Lonergan over the validity of the score, he said afterwards that fans must be patient with referees as overseeing a match is no easy task these days.

“I wouldn’t be too hard on any of the officials," the Kilcoo clubman is quoted saying by BelfastLive.co.uk.

"I refereed an in-house game one night. Mickey (Donnelly, Down coach) normally does it - Jesus, to be fair to them, it’s a hard gig.

“You’re trying to watch the ball, scrambling around, looking over your shoulder, trying to count numbers and there’s boys skipping over lines, back and forward.

“It is okay when you’ve got a full range of officials here and we still aren’t just perfect on it with two linesmen, fourth officials and four umpires. God help us when the club games kick off.”

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