Whistle blown on famous men in the middle

MOST of the top GAA inter-county referees have encountered a defining stage in their careers, where they either learned from the experience and availed of the opportunity to re-establish their reputations or slipped quietly into obscurity.

Most, like top football referee Pat McEnaney, who didn’t distinguish himself in the Mayo-Meath replay of the 1996 All-Ireland final, fit into the former category. Some like Seamus Aldridge - the man in the middle when Mikey Sheehy scored that famous goal in the 1978 final - never quite recovered.

Referees are not permitted to talk to the media after games, even to the extent of defending themselves in certain circumstances - except that nowadays Fr Seamus Gardiner acts as a spokesman after the major games.