The referees for the All-Ireland hurling finals next month have been named. Pat O'Connor from Limerick will take charge of the senior match between Kilkenny and Cork and Pat Aherne of Carlow will be in charge of the minor final between Tipperary and Galway.
O'Connor is one of the top referees in the country and is probably overdue an All-Ireland. Amongst the matches he has controlled have been the All-Ireland club finals of 1995 and 1998, the Kilkenny-Clare league final of 1995, the 1997 All-Ireland quarter-final between Kilkenny and Galway. Earlier this year, he refereed the Kilkenny-Galway NHL semi-final.
He is the first Limerick man to referee at an All-Ireland final since Terence Murray in 1993, co-incidentally the last time Kilkenny won the title. After a controversial season for referees which has seen even the leading exponent Dickie Murphy sustaining a fair bit of - mostly unfair - criticism, the Wexford official was unlikely to add to the four All-Ireland's he has already handled this decade.
In fact even without the controversy, Murphy would have been unlikely to get the nod as his appointment to so many high-profile matches was reported to have caused disgruntlement amongst some other referees. Already this year, he has handled the league final, the Tipperary-Clare first round in Munster, the Munster final as well as the All-Ireland semi-final between Cork and Offaly.
Aherne is an experienced referee who was stand-by for the minor All-Ireland of two years ago when he also took charge of the Kilkenny-Dublin Leinster semi-final and the league final between Limerick and Galway.
Meanwhile, the coming weekend's All-Ireland football semi-finalists will reveal their hands tonight when Armagh and Meath announce their teams.
The Leinster champions have two well-publicised injury cases with Jimmy McGuinness and Tommy Dowd both ruled out with knee and back problems. According to Meath PRO Brendan Cummins, McGuinness will be getting the plaster taken off his knee today after 10 days.
"No-one knows precisely what the problem is," says Cummins, "but he has no chance of playing and even if we were to win on Sunday, he'd still be doubtful for the final. Tommy is rated probably about the same. Both players are pretty versatile and give us options so they're a major loss at this stage of the season."
For their part Ulster champions Armagh are only mildly concerned about the knee injury sustained by Justin McNulty in the provincial final last month. "We're happy enough he'll be fit," said joint-manager Brian Canavan.
Canavan and his colleague Brian McAlinden are in the happy position of being able to choose their best team. In the Ulster final, Diarmuid Marsden and Oisin McConville started a match together for the first time this year after injury and club commitments had prevented their earlier alliance.
They combined that day with devastating effect to score 3-9 between them and carry the county's hopes into the clash with Meath.
Cork's win at the weekend came as no surprise to Canavan whose team inflicted on the All-Ireland finalists their only home defeat of the league. Unusually, he was more impressed with Cork's attack that day than he was with their defence.
"I've always said Cork were the best team we played all year. I think their forward-line is exceptional and they've strengthened up at the back. They're the team to beat. If we win, we'd fear playing them and if we don't win, I think they'll beat Meath."
Danny Ball last night resigned as Tyrone manager. Ball had been under intense pressure to step down following three seasons in charge. Ball informed the county board that he did not wish to be considered for reappointment. He had refused to comment on his future last month following a second successive Ulster Championship defeat by Down, and his decision to call it a day comes as no surprise. Ball had completed his three-year term.
