'He’d pick my brain but he’s his own man': McEnaney backs McNally for Kerry-Mayo final

All-Ireland SFC final referee Martin McNally is somewhat of a protege of his fellow clubman Pat McEnaney

Pat McEnaney on fellow Corduff man Martin McNally: “He’s been knocking on the door and has now gone through it. Martin and Seán Hurson have been the best referees this year along with David Coldrick." Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Pat McEnaney maintains Kerry’s recent good fortune in games won’t be a factor for his club-mate Martin McNally when he takes charge of Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC final.

Referee McNally is something of an apprentice of his fellow Corduff man McEnaney having umpired for him before becoming a referee.

McNally’s first senior final appointment involves Mayo as McEnaney’s did in the 1996 games against Meath including the replay, which was made infamous by the early brawl and the red cards he issued to Liam McHale and Colm Coyle.

Key calls went Kerry’s way against Dublin as a couple did in the quarter-final win over Tyrone including a 45 erroneously awarded to The Kingdom.

“Those things don’t come into it at all,” McEnaney insists. “I used to referee Corduff in challenge matches and you’d be told, ‘Jesus, you were hard on your own there.’ I just refereed the jerseys. Jack O’Connor might say Kerry were hard done by against Dublin on occasions down through the years.

“Some of the recent criticism of refereeing has been wrong, to be honest. In Brendan Cawley’s case, there is no definitive evidence that the ball went over the line for Dublin, so there is no definitive evidence that he and his team got it wrong.

“For the penalty, if it’s a free out the field, then it’s the same in that area and people need to get over it. In fairness, the square ball (goal by Seán O’Brien) was the one that should have been spotted.” 

As much as he is associated with the 1996 replay and in Mayo with sending off their best player McHale, McEnaney was also referee when Mayo lost by eight points to Kerry in the 2004 decider. 

“People forget that game. I did 20 finals between senior, U20s, minors and they don’t speak of them only ’96.” 

He is thrilled to see McNally being acknowledged. “It’s great for Corduff to have another All-Ireland final referee. I won’t say I took him under my own wing. He has done so much of it himself. He would have played football, then had an interest in the refereeing side of things with me being involved and would have been one of my umpires early on.

“We wouldn’t be close in age, there’s a gap there, but we would be close. He’d pick my brain but he’s his own man. It’s taken a while for him to get to this point but he is ready. He was one of the four All-Ireland quarter-final referees and performed well.

“He’s been knocking on the door and has now gone through it. Martin and Seán Hurson have been the best referees this year along with David Coldrick but David has done four finals and Seán a couple of them.

“It just shows that referees can influence boys and girls like players do. I’d say that to Martin: don’t forget there are young people looking at you and thinking, ‘I could be that. I could be good at that.’” 

If McEnaney messages McNally before Sunday, it will be to tell him to keep doing what he has been doing. 

“Nothing changes. Referee the final the very same way you refereed the quarter-final (Mayo v Cork). Don’t deviate. As Paddy Collins said to me as a 21-year-old, ‘Mac, don’t complicate a game that is already complicated.’”