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Who Is The Best Current Hurling Referee?

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Replying To PatOLogical:  "Will watch back but overall good reffing job by Johnny Murphy in today's league final. Again 1 or 2 calls on either side ( with the benefit of rear view mirror) that could've gone the other way.
eg Adrian Mullen yellow card and free appeared to be a clear shoulder to shoulder tackle to me, no free and no yellow . Adam Hogan got a free out late on that should have been a free in for his immediately preceding hold around the neck . Possible Kilkenny goal chance cut off here, Juss sayin

Well done Johnny!"
Shoulder to shoulder me arse. That was a clear yellow.

The back card was a farce too. How was it a clear goal scoring opportunity if they fouled played didn't have the ball. That was a crazy call.

LohansRedHelmet (Clare) - Posts: 2679 - 07/04/2024 19:36:16    2536328

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Replying To CTGAA10:  "Limerickandproud,that's a very good question..I'm racking my little brain to see what names I come up with..I rate Tomas Walsh in Munster and malone from Clare..I also thought John o halloran from limerick but not sure is he on national list..another one is Kennedy from tipp..in Leinster best man had to retire,John Keenan..I thought stack from Dublin was good but don't know where he is gone..I've seen cunning from Antrim and again he seemed to be a decent one..you notice I havnt named to many of the well known fellas..always liked Cleere doing games to.."
Not current unfortunately but Fergal Horgan best I ever saw. Would he ever think of coming back, it would be great. Failing that then Paud O' Dwyer would be next best. John Keenan huge loss also. If you have to retire from inter county at 50 then the same rule should apply to the umpires.

aloneitstands (Limerick) - Posts: 74 - 07/04/2024 21:00:18    2536362

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Replying To Passer_By:  "Colum Cunning is decent enough in my book. Should start getting a few higher profile games.

Hand passes now are no more than a joke. They're let go more so in tier one in my view.

Lads cutting their teeth at inter county refereeing start further down the ladder and feel the need to blow for just about anything because of some over zealous GAA assessor sitting in the stand with a scorecard. Thats the start of the problem.

On the whole, there's as poor a crop of inter county referees at the moment as there's ever been, to my mind.

The age rule is a complete nonsense. With age comes experience. Should be down to a straight forward fitness test (that dosent need to be to the Army Rangers standard either btw). If you pass the test, what odds does it make when your last birthday was.


What is the criteria for being an umpire at an inter county match, does anyone know? Serious question. I bet you don't even need an eye test."
Thr assessor isnt over zealous but in place to help officials improve. It should be thevsame at every level with assessors/,evaluators assisting refs be it a ref in their firat season doing under 12/14 games or someone reffing 10 years and doing senior club county finals.
It cant aimply be down to fitness test alone. Needa to bw far more than that.

Refs need more training and opportunities to meet up within their county or division of county for the larger counties where they can discuss incidejts in gamesz review clips from recent games of things refs did well or could do better.

KillingFields (Limerick) - Posts: 3674 - 07/04/2024 21:44:30    2536375

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Replying To PatOLogical:  "Rumor of Fergal Horgan coming back... if so,
#1 John Keenen (change the rules )
#2 Fergal Horgan -if he makes a comeback.
#3 Johnny Murphy --Only teams that need fear him are the egregious offenders and flaunters of the rules."
John Keenan is an amazing ref. Reffed one of our games lately. Fitter than many club players still.

Wicklowman (Wicklow) - Posts: 1140 - 07/07/2024 19:05:30    2557491

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Is Johnny Murphy in line to get final after limerick defeat today??id prefer to see Liam Gordon or Tomas Walsh.

CTGAA10 (Limerick) - Posts: 2378 - 07/07/2024 21:17:06    2557536

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Johnny Murphy . He will be charge of hurling final this year. He got the word last night. Great appointment.

LimerickForLiam24 (Limerick) - Posts: 143 - 10/07/2024 21:19:18    2558273

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With the speed of the game it is time for two refs if we don't want VAR. The refs are getting lambasted for have passes while trying to watch the play ahead and off the ball behind. It would allow the front ref to get further forward to be up with play while the back guy can catch the nasty stuff behind. The back ref can deal with the afters at the next break in play except a blatant free needs calling. I agree it would take some practice to get two ref doing the same but at least try something. After all a free and should be dealt with in a consistent way but can never be perfect. No more than the players.

Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2866 - 11/07/2024 00:32:01    2558301

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With the speed of the game it is time for two refs if we don't want VAR. The refs are getting lambasted for have passes while trying to watch the play ahead and off the ball behind. It would allow the front ref to get further forward to be up with play while the back guy can catch the nasty stuff behind. The back ref can deal with the afters at the next break in play except a blatant free needs calling. I agree it would take some practice to get two ref doing the same but at least try something. After all a free and should be dealt with in a consistent way but can never be perfect. No more than the players.

Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2866 - 11/07/2024 00:32:01    2558302

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Replying To LimerickForLiam24:  "Johnny Murphy . He will be charge of hurling final this year. He got the word last night. Great appointment."
That is great news. Congratulations and Celebrations. Inspired choice.

Oldtourman (Limerick) - Posts: 4467 - 11/07/2024 00:45:41    2558306

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Replying To CTGAA10:  "Is Johnny Murphy in line to get final after limerick defeat today??id prefer to see Liam Gordon or Tomas Walsh."
Your posts suggest you may be an trouble stirring mole rather than a GAA man. My 2 cents

PatOLogical (Limerick) - Posts: 1377 - 12/07/2024 03:44:18    2558477

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Replying To CTGAA10:  "Is Johnny Murphy in line to get final after limerick defeat today??id prefer to see Liam Gordon or Tomas Walsh."
Johnny Murphy is doing final lots of negative comments on face book but I wish him well bit fuss maybe but i have no doubt he will do his very best

clooney (Clare) - Posts: 960 - 12/07/2024 09:23:58    2558490

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Parto in no way am I stirring..johnny would have got a final in past 5 years only for limerick being involved..usually a ref from a semi is the choice..I wish him all the best and all his officials with him,hope it all goes well.

CTGAA10 (Limerick) - Posts: 2378 - 12/07/2024 11:00:46    2558515

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When does it usually go to a semi final ref? It's invariably a quarter final ref, records prove that. Wishing that someone from your own county would not get the final is poor form

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1916 - 12/07/2024 11:41:36    2558525

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I would say he was guaranteed one once Limerick were involved but for me the decision to book Rory O'Connor in the first 10 seconds of Wexford v Clare for nothing was the most poorly thought out decision I have seen.
I think Thomas Walsh on Sunday gave as good a display of refereeing as I have seen.

Another shout out for Eamonn Furlong, I have seen him come up through the ranks of underage in Wexford and he has been a top referee all the way up. He talks to players as well which matters a lot to players and coaches. I think he will be getting big inter county games from next year.

I also feel the decision to retire John Keenan has been a joke. Referees should have fitness tests and standards to meet but age is but a number and many 50 year olds like me keep themselves in good health and fitness.

I do however think referees overall get way too much flack, its easy to slow something down and complain but hurling is not in slow motion. We could help them out by allowing a review of a game deciding "last play" or if there is a serious off the ball incident. But that is why umpires should be club referees in the county of the referee and help the man in the middle out.

ExiledInWex (Dublin) - Posts: 1259 - 12/07/2024 11:55:35    2558533

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Replying To CTGAA10:  "Parto in no way am I stirring..johnny would have got a final in past 5 years only for limerick being involved..usually a ref from a semi is the choice..I wish him all the best and all his officials with him,hope it all goes well."
A referee from a semi final is never the choice.

ExiledInWex (Dublin) - Posts: 1259 - 12/07/2024 11:56:22    2558534

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Replying To CTGAA10:  "Parto in no way am I stirring..johnny would have got a final in past 5 years only for limerick being involved..usually a ref from a semi is the choice..I wish him all the best and all his officials with him,hope it all goes well."
We would not be sending him chocolate and roses I guess if you lose with a controversial decision you are never pleased and one or two decisions in a game is not a fair assessment. I am more concerned with Duignan calling the game from the booth.

Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2866 - 12/07/2024 15:25:34    2558584

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Another shout out for Eamonn Furlong from me. Top referee, talks to players, hurled at a good level. Loved when I saw he was down to referee our games.
Inter county is now impossible to referee. Handpass needs to be cleaned up and the ball clearly thrown up and away from the hand before the striking action.

StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 1785 - 12/07/2024 15:44:45    2558587

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Replying To ExiledInWex:  "I would say he was guaranteed one once Limerick were involved but for me the decision to book Rory O'Connor in the first 10 seconds of Wexford v Clare for nothing was the most poorly thought out decision I have seen.
I think Thomas Walsh on Sunday gave as good a display of refereeing as I have seen.

Another shout out for Eamonn Furlong, I have seen him come up through the ranks of underage in Wexford and he has been a top referee all the way up. He talks to players as well which matters a lot to players and coaches. I think he will be getting big inter county games from next year.

I also feel the decision to retire John Keenan has been a joke. Referees should have fitness tests and standards to meet but age is but a number and many 50 year olds like me keep themselves in good health and fitness.

I do however think referees overall get way too much flack, its easy to slow something down and complain but hurling is not in slow motion. We could help them out by allowing a review of a game deciding "last play" or if there is a serious off the ball incident. But that is why umpires should be club referees in the county of the referee and help the man in the middle out."
County secretaries wouldn't thank you for that suggestion, if John Keenan in his prime was refereeing Munster championship he'd be bringing four Wicklow club referees away for the day. That would mean restricting club matches in his county, surely umpires need to practice and club referees would never get the chance to umpire and that would be used against them in the event of mistakes. Umpires in the Gaa can't call frees unlike say soccer so not sure of the benefits of having referees as umpires. John Keenan's umpires were excellent in majority of matches, his weakest umpire missed a goal in last year's final when the ball went through the net but overall his other umpires were excellent

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1916 - 12/07/2024 17:15:12    2558602

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Replying To StoreysTash:  "Another shout out for Eamonn Furlong from me. Top referee, talks to players, hurled at a good level. Loved when I saw he was down to referee our games.
Inter county is now impossible to referee. Handpass needs to be cleaned up and the ball clearly thrown up and away from the hand before the striking action."
"Clearly thrown up and away from the hand'" and your opponent has it… thank you very much!

Did you ever play the game at all? Or perhaps back in the 70s when it was as slow as molasses!

foreveryoung (USA) - Posts: 2095 - 12/07/2024 23:02:13    2558643

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Replying To Claretandblue:  "County secretaries wouldn't thank you for that suggestion, if John Keenan in his prime was refereeing Munster championship he'd be bringing four Wicklow club referees away for the day. That would mean restricting club matches in his county, surely umpires need to practice and club referees would never get the chance to umpire and that would be used against them in the event of mistakes. Umpires in the Gaa can't call frees unlike say soccer so not sure of the benefits of having referees as umpires. John Keenan's umpires were excellent in majority of matches, his weakest umpire missed a goal in last year's final when the ball went through the net but overall his other umpires were excellent"
There would be hardly any club action on the days of big games so that is a moot point.
I saw one of John Keenan's umpires wave a flag for a point that was at least 2ft wide in Wexford Park a few years back, the whole stand could not believe when he headed for the flag and the linesman was furiously waving that it was wide.
My point is an umpire who is a referee could be in a position to call some of the action closer to the goal. My personal preference would be for 2 referees and I never think linesmen give the man in the middle enough help.

ExiledInWex (Dublin) - Posts: 1259 - 15/07/2024 18:31:05    2559373

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