Westmeath's Barry Kelly has been appointed referee for next month's All-Ireland hurling senior final between Kilkenny and Galway.

It will be the St. Oliver Plunkett's clubman's third Liam MacCarthy Cup decider to take charge of, having previously handled the 2006 and 2008 deciders which resulted in Kilkenny victories over Cork and Waterford respectively. The fact that he didn't referee either of the two All-Ireland semi-finals left him as the obvious favourite for the final.

Kelly has been an inter-county referee since 1998 and among his other big assignments have been the 2000 All-Ireland minor final and the 2004 All-Ireland U21 final. The Birr-based schoolteacher referees in both codes at local level.

It's believed his main rival for this year's All-Ireland final was fellow Westmeath man James McGrath, who handled this year's Allianz League final between Kilkenny and Cork as well as the earlier meeting of Kilkenny and Galway in the Leinster final. The Turin clubman was on linesman duty for yesterday's semi-final between Kilkenny and Tipperary.

Meanwhile, Cork's Colm Lyons has been appointed to the All-Ireland minor hurling final between Tipperary and Dublin. A member of the Nemo Rangers club, he was the 'man in the middle' for last month's Munster final between Tipp and Clare.

Both All-Ireland final referees will be under greater scrunity than usual after a number of incidents went unpunished during yesterday's senior semi-final. Tweet

Most Read Stories