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Brian Gavin: All-Ireland referee Liam Gordon must get the balance right

The Galway man has unquestionably been the leading hurling official in the county this season.

Thu, 17 Jul, 2025 - 19:00

A first All-Ireland senior final is a special thing for a referee as it will be for many of the Tipperary players on Sunday.

Liam Gordon may have 25 years on some of them but he will be just as nervous as those Tipp first-timers. Driven to do the right things. Determined to give the best version of himself. Desperate to avoid blunders.

After President Michael D Higgins has left the field and the parade circles him, it will all become very real for Liam. “Amhrán na bhFiann” is a chance to compose himself take a few deep breaths and when the Artane Boy's Band leave the stage Liam’s heart will be racing as much as the four men in front of him.

They will make mistakes, he will make mistakes but on this day of all days it’s about keeping them to a minimum.

Since Liam received word last week that he was the man for the job, he will have been inundated with messages and phone-calls of good will from his family, friends and community. He will be filled with a great sense of pride but also relief that the hard work has paid off and the powers-that-be have placed faith in him.

I felt Liam had been thrown into the deep end a little too quick at the outset of his senior inter-county career and for a couple of years he would have been known to let too much go. A bit like last year’s All-Ireland final referee Johnny Murphy but in reverse.

But this year the Galway man has unquestionably been the leading hurling referee in the county. In the Dublin-Limerick quarter-final, he oozed calm confidence. He played some great advantages and was in no doubt about Chris Crummey’s red card.

There is probably more focus on the two teams behaving here than Liam laying down the law. After the Munster SHC group game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in April where players were getting to know each other before the ball was thrown in and Darragh McCarthy was sent off, the onus will be on them not to repeat that unacceptable behaviour.

I’d expect both teams to have learned lessons from that day. No player will want to let his side down on the biggest hurling day of the year. Of course, they will be uptight but aggression must be controlled.

And Liam has to get the balance right. If the players want to hurl, then he has to let them hurl and he most likely will. If they are fouling early on, then he will have to blow for frees and hope that they get the message so he can allow the game to flow.

In the 2016 final between Tipp and Kilkenny, 10 minutes had gone and I had hardly given a free when Walter Walsh committed a borderline yellow card on the Cusack Stand side. I could have booked him but I didn’t. It wasn’t in keeping with the game, which was moving along nicely, being played hard but fair.

Walsh’s foul was contrary to what the players were showing me. They were out to hurl so I let it slide. I didn’t book a player for the remainder of the game. There were less than 20 frees across the 70-plus minutes. Give respect, get respect.

Liam, his umpires, linesmen and other officials will likely stay in the Castleknock Hotel on Saturday night. I can’t remember a manager ever speaking to a referee before All-Ireland final match-day. The conversations that matter are between those eight or nine men, ensuring they are all on the same hymnsheet and working towards the same goal.

Earlier this week, they would have been in Dublin for a pre-final briefing where they would be told what’s different about the day. They would also look at video clips from previous matches. What can be allowed happen and what can’t. You can be sure the score-taking controversy from the Tipperary-Kilkenny semi-final will be discussed. It simply can’t happen again.

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Fatigue will be a topic too. Murphy faded in extra-time of last year’s final and as it applies again the possibility of Seán Stack coming in for Gordon as James Owens did for Thomas Walsh in the Munster final last month will be considered.

This being an all-Munster affair has to be taken into account too. In 2013, I wasn’t as mentally up for the drawn Clare-Cork game as I was for Kilkenny-Tipperary clash two years earlier. At the time, Clare and Cork were too nice hurling teams. I didn’t expect trouble and none was forthcoming. But hurling and Cork are more physical now. Tipperary are no shrinking violets either. This is their fourth meeting this year. Familiarity and all that.

An All-Ireland final is different from a crowd perspective as there are more neutrals at it than an All-Ireland semi-final and Liam won’t feel the home support getting on his back as they might in Páirc Uí Chaoimh or Semple Stadium.

But the occasion is the occasion and Liam must ensure he doesn’t play it. The best of luck to him.