In Gaelic football, the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, the deciding match of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship competition, is considered the highest honour for referees to be appointed to officiate.
The most recent final (2024) was refereed by Sean Hurson, with Brendan Cawley on standby; Paddy Neilan as linesman; Derek O'Mahoney on sideline; and two umpires from Ardboe and one each from Clonoe and Coalisland. The 2022 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was also refereed by Hurson, with Neilan on standby; Barry Cassidy as linesman; Sean Laverty on sideline; and two umpires from Ardboe and one each from Clonoe and Moortown. The 2021 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was refereed by Joe McQuillan, with David Gough on standby; Brendan Cawley as linesman; Ciaran Brannigan on sideline; and two umpires from Kill Shamrocks and one each from Drumalee and Killygarry. [1] The 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was refereed by David Gough, with Conor Lane on standby; Barry Cassidy as linesman.
According to The Irish Times , the referee is often "centre stage" during All-Ireland SFC finals. [2]
Men who referee a final that ends in a draw cannot also referee the replay. This rule was highlighted in 2019, when David Gough — thought by consensus to have had a good game — was replaced by Conor Lane for the replay. Colm O'Rourke in the Sunday Independent column, "The GAA's view that the referee of a drawn game cannot take the replay defies common sense and logic. Why disqualify a referee when he has done a good job? If the referee is not up to it then certainly he should be left off, but when there is almost universal agreement that he is the best referee in the country then give him all the big games and replays too. The players want the best referees". [3]
Brian White was the first to benefit from the rule change when he got to referee the 2000 replay. [4]
Referees are chosen by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) for their impartiality and their assessed performance scores over that championship season. A clue to the identity of the final referee may be found among those chosen to referee All-Ireland quarter-finals. [5] In recent years, a referee who has overseen an All-Ireland SFC semi-final is never chosen for the final. However, he has tended to have refereed a quarter-final. [5]
A referee who has officiated at one of the semi-finals is traditionally overlooked when deciding the referee for the same year's final. [6]
When the decision is made, the identity of the referee chosen is revealed following the All-Ireland SFC semi-finals and ahead of the final. A period of media attention may ensue, sometimes even before the announcement has been made. [5]
On the day, the referee is introduced to the President of Ireland ahead of the game. [7]
The referee receives a Celtic cross for each final he officiates. [8]
Year | Referee | Co. | Referee's club | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1887 | John Cullinane | Tipperary | [9] | |
1889 | T. O'Driscoll | |||
1890 | J. J. Kenny | Dublin | ||
1891 | T. J. Whelan | Laois | ||
1892 | Dan Fraher | Waterford | ||
1893 | T. Gilligan | Dublin | ||
1894 (1st/2nd?) | R. T. Blake (Dick Blake) | Meath | [10] | |
1895 | J. J. Kenny | Dublin | ||
1896 | Thomas Dooley | Cork | ||
1897 | Spencer Lyons | Limerick | ||
1898 | John McCarthy | Kilkenny | ||
1899 | L. Stanley | Louth | ||
1900 | T. H. Redmond | |||
1901 | John McCarthy | Kilkenny | ||
1902 | Thomas F. O'Sullivan | Kerry | ||
1903 | John McCarthy | Kilkenny | ||
1904 | John Fitzgerald | Cork | ||
1905 | M. F. Crowe | Dublin | ||
1906 | John Fitzgerald | Kildare | ||
1907 | John Fitzgerald | Kildare | ||
1908 | M Conroy | Dublin | ||
1909 | M. F. Crowe | Dublin | ||
1910 | w/o /scr. | |||
1911 | M. O'Brennan | Roscommon | ||
1912 | Tom Irwin | |||
1913 | M. F. Crowe | Dublin | ||
1914 (1st/2nd) | Harry Boland | Dublin | [11] | |
1915 | Pat Dunphy | Laois | [11] | |
1916 | Pat Dunphy | Laois | [11] | |
1917 | Pat Dunphy | Laois | [11] | |
1918 | Pat Dunphy | Laois | [11] | |
1919 | Pat Dunphy | Laois | [11] | |
1920 | Willie Walsh | Waterford | ||
1921 | Willie Walsh | Waterford | ||
1922 | Pat Dunphy | Laois | [11] | |
1923 | James Byrne | Wexford | ||
1924 | T. Shevlin | Roscommon | ||
1925 | ? | |||
1926 (1st/2nd?) | ? | |||
1927 | T. Shevlin | Roscommon |
Year | Referee | Co. | Referee's club | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1970 | P. Kelly | Dublin | ||
1971 | P. Kelly | Dublin | ||
1972 (1st) | Fintan Tierney | Cavan; originally from Longford | Butlersbridge | [6] [16] |
1972 (2nd) | Paddy Devlin | Tyrone | [17] | |
1973 | John Moloney | Tipp | ||
1974 | Paddy Devlin | Tyrone | [17] | |
1975 | John Moloney | Tipp | ||
1976 | Paddy Collins | Westmeath | ||
1977 | John Moloney | Tipp | ||
1978 | Seamus Aldridge | Kildare | ||
1979 | Hugh Duggan | Armagh | [18] | |
1980 | Seamus Murray | Monaghan | [19] | |
1981 | Paddy Collins | Westmeath | ||
1982 | P. J. McGrath | Mayo | Kilmaine | [20] |
1983 | John Gough | Antrim | [21] | |
1984 | Paddy Collins | Westmeath | ||
1985 | Paddy Kavanagh | Meath | [10] | |
1986 | Jimmy Dennigan | Cork | [22] [23] | |
1987 | Pat Lane | Limerick | St Senan's | [24] |
1988 (1st/2nd) | Tommy Sugrue | Kerry | [4] | |
1989 | Paddy Collins | Westmeath | ||
1990 | Paddy Russell | Tipp | [25] | |
1991 | Séamus Prior | Leitrim | Aughnasheelin | [26] |
1992 | Tommy Sugrue | Kerry | [27] | |
1993 | Tommy Howard | Kildare | ||
1994 | Tommy Sugrue | Kerry | [28] |
Year | Referee | Co. | Referee's club | Standby referee | Other linesman | Sideline official | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | Paddy Russell | Tipp | [29] | ||||
1996 (1st/2nd) | Pat McEnaney | Monaghan | Corduff | Paddy Russell [30] | [4] | ||
1997 | Brian White | Wexford | Cushinstown | [31] | |||
1998 | John Bannon | Longford | Legan Sarsfields | [32] | |||
1999 | Mick Curley | Galway | [33] | ||||
2000 (1st) | Pat McEnaney | Monaghan | Corduff | ||||
2000 (2nd) | Brian White | Wexford | Cushinstown | [4] [31] |
Bold = referee still active at inter-county level
Referee | Number of finals | Years |
---|---|---|
Pat Dunphy | 6 | 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1922 [11] |
John Moloney | 5 | 1967, 1969, 1973, 1975, 1977 |
Paddy Collins | 4 | 1976, 1981, 1984, 1989 |
Tommy Sugrue | 4 | 1988 (draw), 1988 (replay) 1992, 1994 |
Pat McEnaney | 4 [62] | 1996 (draw) 1996 (replay), 2000 (draw), 2004 |
David Coldrick | 4 | 2007, 2010, 2015, 2020 |
Joe McQuillan | 4 | 2011, 2013, 2017, 2021 |
Paddy Mythen | 3 | 1943 (replay), 1944, 1946 (replay) |
John McCarthy | 3 | 1898, 1901, 1903 |
M. F. Crowe | 3 | 1905, 1909, 1913 |
Brian White | 3 | 1997, 2000 (replay), 2003 [31] |
Maurice Deegan | 3 | 2008, 2012, 2016 (replay) |
Conor Lane | 3 | 2016 (draw), 2018, 2019 (replay) |
Simon Deignan | 3 | 1950, 1954, 1958 |
J. J. Kenny | 2 | 1890, 1895 |
R. T. Blake | 2 | 1894 (1st), 1894 (replay) |
John Fitzgerald | 2 | 1906, 1907, a man by the same name done the 1904 final but it says Cork and not Kildare? |
Harry Boland | 2? | 1914 (draw), 1914 (replay) |
Willie Walsh | 2 | 1920, 1921 |
T. Shevlin | 2 | 1924, 1927 |
Tom Burke | 2 | 1928, 1929 |
Martin O'Neill | 2 | 1932, 1933 |
Sean McCarthy | 2 | 1934, 1936 |
M. Hennessy | 2? | 1937 (draw), 1937 (replay) |
P. Maguire | 2? | 1938 (draw), 1938 (replay) |
Patrick McKenna | 2 | 1941, 1943 (draw) |
Sean Hayes | 1952 (draw), 1952 (replay) | |
John Dowling | 2 | 1959, 1960 |
Eamonn Moules | 2 | 1962, [15] 1963 [15] |
Mick Loftus | 2 | 1965, 1968 |
P. Kelly | 2 | 1970, 1971 |
Paddy Russell | 2 | 1990, 1995 |
John Bannon | 2 | 1998, 2002 |
David Gough | 2 | 2019 (draw), 2023 |
Sean Hurson | 2 | 2022, 2024 |
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To discuss the matter, … former inter-county referee Pat McEnaney joined us … said it's not the only instance when referee selection was a bone of contention. 'If we go back even to 2015 and Dublin vs Kerry, David Coldrick refereed it and there was quite a bit of talk about that one as well,' said McEnaney… McEnaney emphasised that Coldrick acquitted himself well in 2015 despite all the talk. He also discussed the process of selecting final referees, including how 2019 would progress… 'If you look at how they went about it this year, David Gough did a quarter-final. [You also had] Paddy Neilaan[sic], Joe McQuillan and David Coldrick as your four referees. So you'd fancy one of them to come from that quarter-final and to me it's looking like David Gough. Because if you even look at the appointments for the quarter-final actually, he refereed Dublin and Cork,' said McEnaney… 'And I think that was the game he went to his umpires and turned it around. From memory, I thought he was very good that day. It's probably based on that performance that he's possibly favourite for the All-Ireland final.'
In last Thursday's podcast he spoke about his hopes of earning a fourth Celtic Cross for being the man with the whistle in another All-Ireland final.
One hundred years ago Dunphy and Walsh took charge of the All Ireland Finals, while Boland, who reffed the 1914 Football decider and replay, was also remembered.
Tull (he never knew the origin of the nickname other than it had been passed through the family from his grandfather's time) did it all — he won two All-Irelands with Galway as a player in 1934 and (as captain) 1938; he was trainer — and more — to the championship-winning team of 1956 and to the deathless side that won All-Irelands in 1964, '65 and '66; he was still on the sideline when Galway lost three All-Irelands in succession in the 1970s; he was a referee (he whistled Jack Lynch's football All-Ireland in 1945); and he was an administrator with an impeccably conscientious and fussy streak, taking as much care about recording the minutes of obscure county meetings as he did with the famous pinstripe band on the socks the invincible mid-60s maroon team wore.
Spillane went down injured before half-time and Seamus Murray, the Monaghan referee, was seen making several attempts to get Spillane off the turf.
Tommy Sugrue pictured at his home in Tralee with the referee jersey he wore on All-Ireland Final day in 1988.
Tommy Sugrue pictured at his home in Tralee with the referee jersey he wore on All-Ireland Final day in 1988.
It will be White's third final as he was also the man in the middle for the 1997 final between Kerry and Mayo and the 2000 replay between Galway and Kerry.
... McHale was a selector when they lost the 2004 All-Ireland heavily to the Kingdom. McEnaney reffed…