The GAA has confirmed that Maurice Deegan will referee the All-Ireland Football final replay between Dublin and Mayo on October 1st.
This will be the Laois native’s third senior final to referee.
Deegan, a member of the Stradbally club, has also refereed the All-Ireland Senior Final in 2008 between Tyrone and Kerry, and also the 2012 Senior Final involving Donegal and Mayo - the first of three finals the Connacht county have been involved in during the past five seasons. Saturday week shall be a fourth.
Conor Lane of Cork refereed Sunday's drawn final - and in a hotly contested affair in awful conditions - he was criticised for his lack of consistency in black carding James McCarthy in the first half, but failing to punish similar incidents in the same way as the game wore on.
In recent seasons a fierce rivalry has developed between Mayo and Dublin, stemming from the 2012 semi-final, the 2013 final - and culminating in an "unsightly" incident in the tunnel prior to both teams entering the field on Sunday. GAA Head of Communications Alan Milton confirmed on Monday night that an investigation into such was ensuing.
Deegan himself was present last Sunday, and forced to come on to the field in his role as sideline official, to intervene in some of the skirmishes that broke out between the sides.
So a tricky 70 plus minutes is ahead of him on Saturday week - but nothing he hasn’t seen before.
Deegan’s CV also includes the Minor Football Final and Under-21 Football Final in 2005, the Allianz Football League Division One final in 2008 and 2012, and the Division Two final in 2015. On top of that, Deegan has been involved in four provincial finals, the Ulster Football Championship Finals in 2008 (replay), 2011 and 2014 - as well as the 2015 Munster Football Championship Final replay.
In this year’s Championship, Maurice has refereed the All-Ireland quarter-final between Kerry and Clare, the Ulster senior semi-final replay involving Donegal and Monaghan, the Ulster quarter-final clash between Donegal and Fermanagh, as well as the Connacht preliminary round game involving New York and Roscommon.
His umpires on the day will be Kevin O’Brien (St Josephs), John Flynn (The Rock), Tomás Moore (Ballylinan) and Richard Oxley (Timahoe).
Meath's David Coldrick will be the standby referee. The other linesman is Sean Hurson (Tyrone) and the sideline official will be Padraig O'Sullivan (Kerry).
