Shane Dowling blasted the 'disgusting' actions of a member of Waterford's backroom team in a sideline melee during their match with Limerick on Sunday afternoon.
The referee showed the backroom team member a red card after he appeared to strike Limerick's Gearoid Hegarty in the Munster Championship clash.
Tensions were always high in the match, and things boiled over when Hegarty was sent off for a second bookable offence for a challenge he made near the touchline.
READ MORE: Waterford staff member sent off after appearing to strike Limerick player
The challenge sparked a melee between the players before a member of Waterford's backroom team seemed to strike Hegarty on the chest.
Hegarty could be seen pointing to his chest as he spoke to Limerick boss John Kiely on his way off the pitch, gesturing that he had been hit.
And former Limerick player Shane Dowling blasted the Waterford mentor for getting involved in the melee.
Dowling said on RTE's The Sunday Game: "Things spill over, we all make mistakes. But what really annoyed me is that this lad, I don't know who he is, actually ran to go down and hit Gearoid [Hegarty]. There's no place in the game for that.
"It's a Munster Championship, things are going to get heated. Gearoid got sent off, Seamus [Flanagan] had a high challenge, and there were other things there as well. That's going to come and go, and it's part and parcel of championship hurling.
"But somebody running from the dugout to hit a player with a dig is just absolutely disgusting as far as I'm concerned."
Limerick would go on to win the match and their manager Kiely said of the flashpoint: "Whatever about Gearoid and his engagement with the Waterford player, I didn’t see that, so I can’t comment on that, so I’m not going to comment on the yellow card.
"When you are on a yellow, you are always at risk of getting caught with another. We understood that ourselves at half-time.
"The piece after that was very disappointing and hopefully it will be dealt with accordingly."
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