Referee with the ability to reach players

VIEWERS of Sunday Sport may have been taken aback to hear a losing manager praise the referee, all the more so given the deciding goal was a penalty against his team. But have no fears, this is not commonplace, except where the masterful Pat Kelly is concerned.

Honest as ever, the Dundalk manager, Dermot Keely had echoed similar sentiments to the assembled press corps moments earlier following a potentially crippling blow to the defence of their title, with the 2-1 defeat to St Patrick's Athletic.

"I've no quibbles about the penalty. The referee had a good game," said Keely, who then made a point of adding: "Without a doubt he's the best referee in the country, and he showed why tonight.

It's not that he makes few mistakes. He's human, and he makes them too. It's just that he seems to have an innate understanding of the game and, most importantly, the players. The ability to have a sense of repartee and dialogue with the players, while commanding respect, is vital. Paddy Daly had it in bucketloads.

Any young aspiring referee could learn more from one afternoon studying Kelly's methods than any seminar on the subject. Of course, personality comes into it, and looking at some of those in black you'd wonder why they chose this part time hobby in the first place. They certainly don't seem to be enjoying themselves and hence, more often than not, nor is anyone else in the ground.

Alas, Kelly retires at the end of this season. "I'm happy enough, it's a young man's game and I don't want to out stay my welcome." He began refereeing in 1970 at Munster schoolboys' level where he still does a few games, and came onto the National League panel in 1974, refereeing his first game, St Patrick's against Limerick at Richmond Park, the following year.

In 1979 he was dropped off the panel, a legacy of being headbutted by Peter Hutton snr (himself suspended for five years) and the loss of confidence that ensued. "I suffered two broken noses while refereeing before that, that's the problem with being small," he quips.

He returned in 1984, older and wiser, and was a FIFA referee for six years until retirement two years ago. Surprisingly, he's overseen only one FAI Cup final, the 1987 Rovers Dundalk decider.

Previously denied Kelly's expertise when Cork manager, the Shelbourne manager Damien Richardson concurs that the Cork official is the best in the game. "He understands the game, but more than that he understands the players and he makes sure that they understand him. And that's one of the real talents of refereeing."

Richardson was at the St Patrick's Dundalk game when Kelly again won widespread praise for a typically unobtrusive performance. However, the Shelbourne manager is prepared to prompt a debate on this vexed and often undervalued issue of refereeing by disagreeing with Keely's analysis (and most others present) of Kelly's performance.

"I understand where Dermot is coming from but for the sake of promoting debate I'm going to suggest that Pat Kelly wouldn't have refereed like that in Europe." What's more, according to Richardson, Kelly should have, in the overall interests of the National league.

"To develop the game and see it progress as it should, referees have a huge role to play and I feel they should be applying the standards they would apply in European games if the style of football is to progress in the National League."

Returning to Sunday's game, Richardson adds: "I don't think it's right if referees are too lenient and that's what happened at Richmond. Too many things were allowed to go. For example Mick Byrne was taken down five yards outside the box by Davey Campbell when it looked like he was going to get through, and Pat just awarded a free. In Europe, I think Pat would have booked him and in a general sense, because too much leniency was shown, the game was stifled in midfield."

Richardson accepts he may be asking too much and Kelly maintains the St Patrick's Dundalk game was never out of control. "If it had I would have been able to rein it back in, but I don't think there was one really bad tackle."