Joe McQuillan has a string of credits to his name as a referee. Taking charge of the 2011 All-Ireland SFC final took the biscuit though.

Against a background of being bombarded by texts and phone calls from around the world, Joe McQuillan's mind in the run up to the 2011 All-Ireland SFC final was a veritable oasis of calm.

Messages of goodwill flooded in from all over Ireland as well as Thailand, the US, Australia, Hong Kong and England ahead of his handling of the hugely hyped Kerry v Dublin decider. However, the Kill Shamrocks clubman dealt with all the hullaballoo like an old pro.

Taking it all in his stride, Joe swatted away any threat of getting immersed in an emotional rollercoaster journey in a studied, calm fashion.

"I had a three week build-up to the final and that helped me to soak up all the hype in a slow, methodical way," the erstwhile club chairman explains.

"Having that length of time to prepare myself was brillant and I ended up going out onto Croke Park for the final with just a few butterflies.

"To be honest, I've often been far more nervous for an all-Ireland Qualifier game which comes on top of you almost before you know it.

"I couldn't believe how little nerves I had for the final. When it's a case of a winner-take-all situation in a big Qualifier match, I often get more nervous."

While there's nothing routine for a GAA referee about taking charge of the biggest sporting event in Ireland in any given year, Joe did have a routine in the 24 hours before the short whistle was sounded at Croker on finals day.

Perhaps it was that routine which helped filter some of his attendant nerves in the 24 hours immediately before the all-Ireland final.

That schedule saw the leading Shamrock and his wife join with his umpires and their partners and other SFC officials - in tandem with the officials in charge of the all-Ireland MFC - at a northside Dublin hotel on the Saturday night prior to the big game.

Breakfast the next morning at 10.30am followed mass and then back to the hotel at 11.15am for a shower. Suited and booted, meeting up with the rest of his party at the hotel reception followed before a taxi to Croker at noon got the ball rolling in a big way.

Reflecting on his stewardship of what will go down in the annals of Gaelic games as one of the most dramatic all-Ireland finals of all time, Joe says taking charge of the 2011 decider made him feel very fortunate and honoured:

"I wouldn't want to take anything away from any of the other top counties but the Kerry-Dublin game was the dream final," the popular sales rep says.

"The history of their clashes is something else, going back to the seventies and eighties. So many older GAA fans remember them so fondly and when they were on top for so many years, it formed a golden era for the GAA.

"The fact too that it was 16 years since Dublin were involved in the senior all-Ireland final only added to the excitement and hype surrounding the game.

"It doesn't ever mean anything to me - in terms of dictating my preparation for a game - which teams are going head to head in what the competition is."

"My preparations for all matches is pretty much the same in that I have the same routine. At this stage, I would know a lot of the players involved.

"Refereeing the all-Ireland was all about getting the head right and keeping the nerves down. It was a big match of course but it still had to be reffed the same as every other game. It's not different in that respect."

To many close to the inner echelons of the GAA and the wider membership of the Association, McQuillan was all but a shoo-in for the 2011 SFC final.

His excellent handling of the SFC quarter-final clash between Dublin and Tyrone cut the odds on him being awarded the final even further.

And then when he was over-looked for the subsequent semi-final matches (he had refereed All-Ireland SFC semis in 2006 and 2008, co-incidentally both featuring Cork v Kerry clashes) the deal was practically sealed as, traditionally, the all-Ireland final referee doesn't officiate at a semi-final played in the same year.

"I knew I wasn't going to be too far anyway," he acknowledges, "and the fact that I didn't get a semi-final was a hint I suppose 'cause they usually use one of the quarter-final referees.

"I felt when I didn't get a semi-final that I was being considered for the final. Once Donegal were beaten I knew I was in with a good chance."

Mention of the aforementioned Dublin v Tyrone quarter-final reminds one of the variety of matches refereed by even the best in the business.

Just 24 hours after taking charge of that match, referee McQuillan found himself taking charge of a Cootehill Celtic v Mullahoran underage match in Cootehill.

Interestingly, he maintains that his understanding and use of the rules of the game can be brought into focus even more at a club game than one played on the biggest stages in the country by the biggest stars in the country.

"I think the first foul that I blew for in the Dublin/Kerry final came after six minutes whereas in an ordintary club game, the frees would come more frequently.

"At intercounty level, fellas can generally take a 'hit' that bit better and they're more inclined to want to break the tackle too and go forward with the ball."

The now 36 year old has amassed a wealth of experience with whistle in hand and he says that he generally knows how a game is going to pan out - in terms of the discipline of the participants - within the first five minutes.

In that space of time, he reckons he'll know whether he's about to have a "dogfight" on his hands or whether the teams genuinely want to play disciplined football.

"I knew after just a few minutes of this year's final that both Kerry and Dublin were going to approach the game in the right way 'cause any foul early on was nothing more than a tug on a jersey but even before the game I reckoned that it was going to be good open game of football.

"I was told that I had been awarded the final on the Tuesday after the second semi-final had been played and I was delighted that it was going to be Kerry and Dublin in the final."

The fact that Joe took charge of the meeting of the Kingdom and the Dubs last September meant that he had reffed four out of Dublin's six SFC matches in 2011. Was that unusual?

"Not really. I'm not that far away from Dublin and Croke Park has had a habit over the last 12 months of appointing referees who live within a certain distance of the venue of the match. You could count on two hands the amount of refs who are appointed for games that are held at venues that are more than 200 miles from their home. You don't have a referee from Ulster now taking charge of a match in Munster. Similarly, for example, you might have had Mick Deegan (Laois) taking charge of a match in Belfast but that hasn't happened in the last year or so."

Needless to day, being the man in the middle for the 2011 All-Ireland SFC final represents the highlight of Joe McQuillan's refereeing career to date.

Over the years he has refereed some of the most high profile and intense matches but they scarcely could have prepared him for the cauldron of noise that filled Croker last September.

"It was a hell of an occasion, a great experience," Joe says of the 2011 blue riband decider. "It went like a dream but went by so quickly it was unreal.

"Before the game, some people were advising me to soak up all the atmosphere and I tried to do that."

And the stand-out moment in this year's all-Ireland final?

"I'd say it would have to be Kevin McManamon's goal at the Hill 16 end of the ground where there was a complete sea of blue.

"McManamon drove at the Kerry defence and finished it well and the goal brought Dublin to within a point of Kerry which was amazing because with six minutes to go in the game, Kerry were in control of the game and seemed to have the game wrapped up."

And the free that gave Stephen Cluxton to win the game for Dublin and write his name into GAA history?

"I had no hesitation in awarding the free. McManamon was caught by the outstretched leg of Barry John Keane. It was a challenge that would have been deemed a foul had it been commited in the defence and I was sure it was a foul and I'm still happy that I made the right call."

For the last 16 years, Joe has made many the correct call in his guise as the 'man-in-black'.

Amazingly despite having refereed Connacht, Leinster and Munster SFC finals, he has yet to take charge of an Ulster SFC final.

Betcha, sooner rather than later, that'll be set right and we'll see him and his umpires (Tommy O'Reilly, Ciaran Brady, TP Gray, Jimmy Galligan) do their thing. That is unless the Breffni blues are part of the picture of course! Tweet

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