Former All-Ireland referee Mick Curley has decided to hang up his whistle from all levels of the game. Galway native Curley has informed Croke Park and the Galway County Board that it is his intention to retire from all grades of refereeing. According to the Galway official: "I have had a good innings and the time is right for me to retire." The 51-year-old Salthill based Garda came to national prominence in the mid 1990s. He refereed the 1999 All Final between Meath and Cork. He also took charge of the 1998 and 1999 International Rules series. His has also the distinction of having refereed finals in all four provinces, including taking charge of three Connacht finals. As a native of Galway, his prominence as a match official coincided with an All Ireland challenging Galway football team and their presence in four All-Ireland finals (including a replay) during that period probably hindered his chances of taking charge of more final games. The Galway Garda cited among some of his reasons for retirement the fact that it was getting more difficult to achieve the standard of fitness required for refereeing at the top level. "It is not that easy now to achieve the level of fitness now required to be a top match official as I have been having problems with a knee cartilage. I also feel that there are a number of very promising young referees on the horizon and I think it is time to move over and give them a chance," added Curley. Throughout his career, Curley, had a number of high profile incidents involving himself and some team managers. Most notable of these occurred after a national league game between Cavan v Wexford at Breffni Park when the then Wexford manager, J. J. Barrett struck the Galway official at the end of the game. Barrett subsequently served a two year ban for his rash action. Speaking on the incident, Curley said: "That incident has long been buried by the two of us. We met up not long afterwards and he came down to Galway one afternoon for lunch. There are isolated moments like that in sport but thankfully they are not common." Curley was equally forthright on his opinion on the new rules changes recently imposed by the task force committee and feels that on a personal basis the 'sin bin' should have been retained. Tweet

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