The River island referees

Tom McCarthy and Jer Lynch are work colleagues at the River Island Hotel in Castleisland. But that’s not the only thing they have in common - both are well-known football referees on the Kerry club scene.

Down in the River Island Hotel in Castleisland, you’ll find two of the leading football referees in Kerry right now - Tom McCarthy and Jer Lynch.

McCarthy, who manages the busy hotel, is a highly experienced match official, having taken charge of some of the biggest fixtures in the Kingdom over the past decade or so. By contrast, Jer, who works as a chef, is a relative newcomer to refereeing, having taken up the whistle for the first time three years ago. But he has already made an impact and has been on the Munster panel of referees since 2003.

"It was Tom who got me into refereeing," explains Jer, who is a member of the Ballymacelligott club outside Tralee.
"I played for the club up until minor level and had drifted out of the game somewhat until I started refereeing three years ago. A lot of people think being a referee is a thankless task, but I enjoy it and look forward to the games as they come along."

Jer’s biggest game to date was last year’s county junior football final between eventual All-Ireland champions Finuge and Lispole. He has taken charge of several senior and intermediate championship fixtures in Kerry and acted as linesman in last year’s senior decider between South Kerry and Laune Rangers.

It’s still early days as regards his inter-county career, but he has already refereed a number of fixtures in Munster, including this year’s under 21 semi-final between Limerick and Waterford.

"It was good to get the Munster under 21 semi-final under my belt and hopefully it is only the start of things to come. My aim is to be upgraded to the inter-county panel next year and be appointed to referee National League games.

"The ultimate ambition for any referee is to take charge of an All-Ireland final, but for now, I’d gladly settle for a senior county final," adds the 33-year-old who is married to Maura and has two young children, Tomas and Niamh.

It’s fair to say that the experimental rules which were implemented in this year’s National Football and Hurling Leagues caused far more controversy than the GAA could ever have imagined.

From day one, the ’sin bin’ rule was a bugbear with players, managers and supporters and such was the outcry that the Rules Task Force was forced to modify the rule by allowing a yellow-carded player to be replaced by a substitute. But the controversy refused to go away with the result that the GAA will revert to the old rules in the forthcoming championship.
None of the changes found favour with Lynch who felt the GAA missed a golden opportunity by not experiencing with the ’mark’, which has proven to be such a success in Australian Rules.

"Overall, the experimental rules weren’t a success, although they could have been given more time. The yellow card system had too many flaws and I didn’t agree with the clean ’pick-up’ either. Some people were saying it helped to speed up the game, but I think you’d be losing a skill in Gaelic football if the old rule had been done away with.

"I would love to have seen the ’mark’ introduced because it would reward the high-fielders of the game. The GAA should be doing everything to encourage high-fielding because it seems to be a dying art."

Like Jer, Tom McCarthy commenced his refereeing career at the age of 30. He looked upon it as a way of remaining involved in the GAA after his playing days ended. Tom won county championship honours with Castleisland Desmonds and was sub-goalkeeper to Kerry legend Charlie Nelligan when they lost the 1986 All-Ireland club final to Down champions, Burren.

McCarthy, who served on the inter-county panel for a brief period, has refereed championship finals in every grade in Kerry with the exception of minor. "I’d have them all done if I got minor final. I’ve refereed senior, intermediate, junior, novice and under 21 finals and a minor final is the only one missing from the list," he says.
Tom was sent to Cahirciveen for his first refereeing assignment - a novice ’B’ encounter between St. Michael’s and Clounmackon. His first final was a novice ’A’ decider between Dromid Pearses and Ardfelt in Kilorglin. He has since established himself as one of the premier referees in the Kingdom and was the man in the middle for the 1994 and ’96 county senior finals when East Kerry and Laune Rangers were the finalists in both years.

Tom is married to Mary and has four children, Jason, Stephen, Colin and Edel. Jason and Stephen are part of his team of umpires which also includes James Lyons, Aidan McGaley, Thomas Brennan and Willie Dom O’Connor.

Despite refereeing for 15 years, McCarthy has no intention of hanging up his whistle just yet.
"I’m fairly fit and hope to keep going for another few years. I finished playing earlier than I would have liked because of work commitments and it’s nice to get a longer run at the refereeing."

As already mentioned, Tom is manager of the River Island Hotel which is a 52-bedroom establishment located in the heart of Castleisland. All rooms are en suite with direct dial telephone, TV/video, hairdryer and tea/coffee facilities. The Sliabh Luachra Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and evening meals daily, while the hotel also incorporates the popular Night Owls nightclub.

"When the hotel opened 11 years ago, it gave Castleisland a big lift. It continues to be the focal point of the town to this day," Tom explains.

The River Island Hotel is part of the O’Donoghue-Ring Group which is headed up by Michael O’Donoghue and Donie Ring. Both are well known businessmen in the South with Donie also being the owner of the successful window and door manufacturing company in Ballydesmond, Munster Joinery. Michael, who is a native of Castleisland, is a director on the Fitzgerald Stadium Committee in Killarney.

In all, there are nine hotels in the O’Donoghue-Ring Group. They include the Killarney Plaza, the Killarney Towers and the Killarney Avenue. There are four O’Donoghue-Ring hotels in Liverpool and another in Chester.