The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
August 2, 2014, was a special day in the life of GAA referee Flan O’Reilly. When he travelled to Clonlara to take charge of the Intermediate Hurling Championship tie between Smith O’Brien’s and Meelick, he knew it was a landmark game in his refereeing career. Saturday’s outing marked Flan’s 3,000th match as ‘the man in the middle’. “I had refereed a number of games for the South Clare Divisional Board in 1992 before I started to keep a record. The first game that I recorded was a junior hurling fixture between Sixmilebridge and Parteen in early 1993. It ended in a draw,” the Cratloe clubman told The Clare Champion this week. Having reached this significant milestone in his refereeing career, Flan said he has no plans to retire. In fact, since taking charge of his 3000th match, he has refereed another couple of games and as he spoke on Wednesday, he was preparing for another assignment later that evening. “Jim …
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