How many All-Ireland finals have Waterford been in, in the last 45 years? Easy one - none. How many titles will Kilkenny have in succession if they win on the first Sunday in September? Three - good! Any idea how many All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship finals match official Barry Kelly will have done before the month is out? - Any takers? By Cóilín Duffy The match referee is a figure that can often be overlooked in the build-up to any All-Ireland final, be it football or hurling - the buzz in the competing counties far out-weighs the buzz surrounding the referee. Yet for Kelly and his officials this game is just as big a deal, and the Birr schoolteacher, will officiate in his second All-Ireland SHC Final this September, after he became the first Westmeath man to do the honours back in 2006. Kelly was the man-in-the middle for that memorable All-Ireland SHC decider between Cork and Kilkenny, which saw the Rebels denied of three-in-a-row. Having previously refereed the All-Ireland Minor final between Cork and Galway in 2000, the All-Ireland Club and Under 21 hurling finals in 2004 and the Munster decider in '05, Kelly says it's been a steady progression for him. "The Club and Under 21 finals in 2004 were a nice stepping stone in making progress. This year I have been lucky enough to do the National League final back in April and the Leinster final in July - this has been a good year. "You would have gladly settled for this at the start of the year put it that way," he added. 2006 doesn't seem like two years ago for the Westmeath whistler who vividly recalls the pre-match build up and the hype that surrounded him as the first referee from the Lake County to take charge of an All-Ireland Senior Hurling decider. "It was new to us in a way because we had done the minor final in 2000," he said. "For my umpires - we had a pre-All-Ireland seminar for the match referee. That was a big thing for them going to Croke Park and a meeting a week and a half before the game and a lot of build-up in terms of local newspapers attention and people talking about it. "I would think the build-up to this year's one has been a little bit more low-key. It's good in a way too. There was a bigger build-up to the last one because I was the first Westmeath man (to referee a SHC All-Ireland Final) - that was the main reason. "At that stage it was unique and there was a lot of attention back then. I was just chuffed to have got my first final. At that stage I would have said that I was lucky to get it, and to referee one would be great - you don't like to be greedy. Then when you have the first one done, I think like any referee your thoughts then turn - 'God I'd love to do a second one'." Kelly's umpires have been with him through thick and thin - Michael Coyle, Seamus O'Brien, Anthony Gavin and Noel Nugent, are all club-mates at St. Oliver Plunkett's in Mullingar, and he certainly appreciates their loyalty. "Amazingly I have and there all from my own club St. Oliver Plunkett's which doesn't always happen but it's nice for the club," Kelly enthused. "They have been with me since I've been on the local circuit. Obviously locally you don't need a dedicated team, but I've had the lads for a while. A couple of them done umpiring for a few of the referees locally - Pat Casey and a few like that. "I've been really lucky in that the same four lads have been with me for nearly every match. It's rare that I wouldn't have one of them. There are others like Dave Clune and Rob Cornally - who is a Senior Inter-county referee himself now; they help out whenever one of the lads can't make it." On the Tuesday week before the final, the match day officials gathered in Croke Park, for the pre-All-Ireland final meeting - a chance for them to discuss the logistics of the day. "It's a great chance really. Obviously you are with your umpires all year way long, and I have been with my umpires for ten or 11 years at this stage. You spend a lot of time with your umpires. "My linesmen back in 2006 were Dickie Murphy and Sean McMahon from Clare. The chances are that I wouldn't have worked jointly with them before. It goes through some of the practical things also, like you are staying in a hotel and meal times - the small stuff is got out of the way. "It's a great chance to work with your linesmen really, and discuss things that might happen; what way you want them to operate. The exact thing happened this year. John Sexton from Cork and Tommy McIntyre from Antrim are my linesmen and Pat Greene from Galway is the fourth official - just things that you would like to discuss with them. "You could do it an hour in the dressing room before the game, but it is nice to get them out of the way - and the way you are going to operate. Everyone has done the job before but you might not have done it with the exact same team before." Kelly is pretty meticulous about his own preparations ahead of a big-match day, sorting gear for not only himself, but the umpires also is one of the priorities. "You are making preparations in terms of sorting out umpires gear and your own gear and all those things. "You'd probably have a meeting with the umpires before hand and making arrangements regarding what time you will leave at for a game. We will be going on Saturday, because we will be put up in a hotel on Saturday night." And while the players might ease into a big-match Sunday, with very little action in the preceding days, Kelly likes to fit in as many games as he can to keep things ticking over, his mind focussed on the rules and the task at hand during the Jewel of Irish Sport. "You are concerned about your own preparations too and you'd like to get a few matches under your belt locally, whether that's football or hurling. "You get a couple of matches under your belt - there was an All-Ireland Under 16 blitz in Kinnegad the Saturday week before the final and I've refereed a few matches at that. It's just nice to get them to keep you sharp - training wise you are trying to keep your training heavy two weeks before it, and then ease up a little bit in the week leading up to the game." Fitness plays a big part in the GAA these days, be it at inter-county level or with the club. A lot of the focus in this regard is on the players, but the referees are just as focussed about fitness according to Kelly. "This year it as gone to a new level. All 3.2 level referees in the country had to attend a fairly stringent fitness/medical in DCU back in January and February. They used those results then to gauge our fitness levels and develop fitness testing for referees. Then we had our first pre-Championship fitness test in March and there was another fitness test in June. "Dr. Niall Moyna in DCU was very taken by the fitness levels of referees - he was really pleasantly surprised." And ahead of one of the biggest All-Ireland finals in decades, and Waterford's first in 45 years Kelly is just keen to get out on the Croke Park pitch with his team of officials. "I think that I'm probably a bit more prepared this time, because last time out it was all new. For the umpires in particular I suppose as well. It's a big, big thing for them and their families." The third team on the pitch, but without them there would be no All-Ireland final Sunday, or indeed any match played - best of luck to Barry and all involved in the big-match day. Tweet

Most Read Stories