JOE McQUILLAN appeared to clinch the position as Sunday’s senior referee after his handling of the Dublin versus Tyrone All-Ireland quarter-final.
“I knew I wasn’t going to be too far away anyway,” McQuillan recently told The Anglo Celt, “and the fact that I didn’t get a semi-final was a hint I suppose, they usually use one of the quarter-final referees. I felt when I didn’t get a semi-final that I was being held.”
That’s the way the GAA do it.
McQuillan is the third Cavan man to get this opportunity after Fintan Tierney in 1972 and Brian Crowe five years ago.
As is often the case in Gaelic games, his time as an intercounty referee has not escaped controversy. He has twice seen two high-profile red cards rescinded on review. Both were Cork men, Donnacha O’Connor in 2008 and Anthony Lynch in the 2006 Munster final.
However, neither proved a massive blotch on the Kill Shamrocks clubman’s copybook. In fact, the Lynch red card was erased on a technicality.
Meath’s David Coldrick is the standby referee and will run the line along with Monaghan’s Pat McEnaney. The sideline official will be Maurice Condon from Waterford. McQuillan’s umpires are Tommy O’Reilly, Ciarán Brady, TP Gray, all Kill Shamrocks, and Jimmy Galligan from Killygarry.
GAVIN CUMMISKEY
