Referee Chris Maguire from the Wolfe Tones club in Shannon departed from the airport on Saturday evening to officiate London versus Carlow in the National Football League. While there is nothing unusual about this what does make it a particularly unique trip is for the very first time travelling referees were allowed to bring their own umpires. In Ruislip on Sunday five Clare men officiated over proceedings with Maguire bringing his trusted umpires namely Frank Mee from the Kilmurry Ibrickane club, Jamie Divilly from Wolfe Tones, Martin Frawley from Kildysart and Cian Collopy from Wolfe Tones. Speaking exclusively to the Clare Champion Chris is extremely proud to be a referee and feels that officiating matches has enhanced his love for all things GAA. ” I’m in my ninth year as a referee and to be honest it’s not something I planned on. I was below in my own club one evening when they had no referee for a Junior match. …
Read More »3,000 games and still counting for Flan
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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