‘When I blew the final whistle I gave the sliotar in play to Eoin Kelly but I hung on to one myself as well’

Michael Wadding refereed the 2007 All Ireland hurling final, but was too focused on the game to be aware of the 80,000 crowd.

One man starts it, and one man ends it. Michael Wadding on a referee’s experience of All-Ireland final weekend, from start to finish

I refereed the All-Ireland minor final, in 1997, but didn’t get the senior game until 2010. Waterford, my county, surged in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and were in eight out of eleven Munster finals, so I didn’t get any of those, but I got the big one in 2007.