Enda Stenson | |
|---|---|
 Stenson in 2013 | |
| Occupation | Chairman of Leitrim GAA |
| Years active | 33 as referee |
| Known for | 3 Connacht Senior Football Championship finals; 1994 Leitrim Senior Football Championship final |
Enda Stenson is a former [1] Gaelic football referee, politician and current chairman of the Leitrim County Board.
Stenson's career as a referee spanned 33 years. [1] In this time he refereed three finals of the Connacht Senior Football Championship. [1]
Stenson also refereed the final of the 1994 Leitrim Senior Football Championship between Allen Gaels and Aughawillan. [1] The game's final play proved contentious as Martin McGowan of Allen Gaels, who was playing with a dislocated spine, stood to take a free. [1] Aughawillan's full-back, Martin Flanagan, took up a position behind his goalkeeper, Martin Prior. McGowan struck the ball and expressed certainty that it was two yards over the bar. However, Aughawillan's Flanagan gave Prior "a bit of a hoosh" and Prior, with his shoulders close to level with the crossbar, caught the ball. [1] Stenson did not penalise the move and then blew the final whistle. [1] Thus Allen Gaels were denied a replay and Aughawillan secured a third consecutive championship title. [1]
Stenson and Flanagan were both present in Croke Park for the 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final when Tommy Walsh, the former Australian rules footballer, set himself up to lift 6-foot-4 teammate David Moran in a similar move to deny Dean Rock at the game's conclusion, though the ball did not land near the pair so the move did not occur. [1] Rock's effort went wide and it later emerged that the pair had asked referee David Gough, who had told them he would not penalise the move if they did it. [2]
Stenson became chairman of Leitrim County Board in December 2019. [3] He criticised the prospect of having to play games in other counties while being unable to visit a neighbour due to restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. [4] [5] He then publicly criticised Tomás Ó Sé and called on him to resign after Ó Sé questioned the motivations of "weaker counties" after Sligo was forced to withdraw from the 2020 Connacht Senior Football Championship due to an outbreak of COVID in its squad. [6] [7]
Stenson is also an Independent member of Leitrim County Council, on which he represents Carrick-on-Shannon. [1] [8]
On All-Ireland final morning, Martin Flanagan bumped into Stenson with his son-in-law on Clonliffe Road. Naturally the full-back relived the story with the usual gusto and the retired referee laughed along like he has done so for 25 years.