Tag Archives: Seanie McMahon

A VIDEO shared widely on WhatsApp last week showed a referee in Roscommon left sprawled on the ground as the mentor of an under 17 team walked away from him. The clear implication was that the referee had been seriously assaulted, and the incident led to a referee’s strike in the county last weekend, meaning all games there had to be cancelled, showing the importance of the oft-maligned referees. Lack of appreciation of referees is hardly a Roscommon problem exclusively, and there is no doubt that referees across Clare face a great deal of stick too, even if it very rarely goes as far as it did there. Newmarket’s Seanie McMahon is referee administrator with Clare GAA and was a prominent referee at the highest level for many years. He says that people expect far more from referees than they do from anyone else involved in sport. “Referees are going to make mistakes, like players do and managers do, during …

CLARE hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald and Clare Champion journalist, Peter O’Connell, have both given their version of events regarding an incident at Cusack Park on Saturday evening, following the Banner’s draw with Wexford. As a result of the incident, Fitzgerald was restrained by members of his backroom team, while O’Connell was ejected from the tunnel area by Clare County Board secretary, Pat Fitzgerald [Davy’s father] and backroom squad member and referee, Seanie McMahon. They have claimed they ejected O’Connell from the enclosed area of the stadium due to safety concerns. However, O’Connell has firmly denied that such a move was required or that he had behaved in an aggressive or abusive manner. The incident occurred in the enclosed area behind the dressing rooms and close to the mouth of the tunnel, about 45 minutes after the match had ended. Emotions were still running high after one of the most dramatic games of the championship to date when Fitzgerald directed a …