Derek O'Mahoney's stellar service to refereeing 

By John Harrington

There’s a nice circularity to Derek O’Mahoney’s 17-year career as a member of the national referee’s panel.

His first game in Croke Park was back in 2008 when he was a sideline official for the 2008 All-Ireland Club Final that Joe McQuillan refereed.

His last was as a sideline official for this year’s All-Ireland SFC semi-final between Tyrone and Kerry which was refereed once again by McQuillan.

Coincidentally, that was also McQuillan’s last game as a member of the national referees panel with both men hitting the retirement age of 50 this year.

They were back in headquarters together a couple of weeks ago for the Robbie Williams gig, and when O’Mahoney looks back on his refereeing career it’s the friendships he made along the way that he values as much as the buzz of refereeing at the very highest level.

A referee is often viewed as a solitary figure, the man in the middle, but O’Mahoney very much saw himself as a member of a team.

The umpires he travelled to and from games with, his fellow match officials on the day, and the national and provincial panels that became like bands of brothers.

“The beauty of the national football panel at the minute is that everybody gets on” says O’Mahoney.

“There's a real tight-knit group there. So no matter who is appointed to referee you're probably chatting to them during the week and you have a good camaraderie built up and you know how each guy deals with certain situations and you can give him the best hand you can.

“Everyone has a bad game at some stage and the support you get from other referees in the group is great. I've had issues myself over the years and you're guaranteed that on a Monday or Tuesday that somebody would pick up the phone and check in with you.

“And, to be fair, the lads in Croke Park and the lads over the provinces are all very good to check in with you as well. That's the beauty of the group that's refereeing, you're at it for years together, I'm 17 years on the national panel, and you get to make great friends.

“You're not just friends on the day of the match, fellas stay in touch during the week and maybe after something not going right or there's something on the papers then they're checking in with you and saying, 'hey, listen, it wasn't that bad, move on, there's another day coming.'

“Of course I’ll miss it, it was a big part of my life.”

O’Mahoney is a member of the Ardfinnan club in Tipperary and his best friend is Liam Barrett, son of legendary referee Willie Barrett.

Willie took them both under his wing as umpires, and it wasn’t long before O’Mahoney himself was bitten by the refereeing bug.

“Willie was an amazing referee and an amazing mentor for me,” says O’Mahoney. “His manner on the field was something you could learn a lot from and he was a great man to get advice from.

“I decided that maybe this was something I could have a go at myself, that I know what I'm doing, and it took off from there. I just fancied the challenge to see if I could do it, how good could I be, and how far could I go.”

O’Mahoney made it to the top pretty quickly, propelled by that determination to be the best he could be.

The way he saw it, every day on the pitch should be a learning day.

“There's not a match that goes by that you don't pick something up from,” he says. “You might do something wrong and the next day you won't do it that way or you won't approach that situation the same way.

“Once you go out with the mentality that every day is a learning day, that you'll pick something up, then you'll keep developing.

“I always say to the younger lads in Munster that you'd be training with that the day you go out and think you're not going to pick up something is the day you leave yourself wide open.

“You have to keep the head down and keep trying to improve. You obviously need to know the rules and have a good knowledge of the game, but I think nowadays what's more important than anything is you need to be able to communicate with players. That's vitally important, because earning their respect is huge. The faster people can learn that the better they'll be.

“You should also be willing to learn from others. If you're doing the line for someone you might see how he might approach different situations and you can take that on yourself.

“You'd say, 'that's a good way to deal with a situation like that', and you take it on yourself and use it in the future.

“Self-assessment is important too. In this day and age I think most referees should be watching back their own performance, analysing it themselves and being self-aware of what went on.

“That’s vitally important part of the game and we're told that by Croke Park as well. They send us the games every week and it's been of huge benefit in the last number of years. I think every referee at the highest level now is very self-aware and if you have that trait it certainly makes it easier to move on after games.”

With Willie Barrett as his mentor, O’Mahoney learned the value of honest feedback and he always looks for the same from his own umpires, Liam Barrett, Stan Barlow, Peter Mackin, and Michael Forrester.

“People always say that they're your best friends and you're just bringing your best friends off for a trip, but that's not the way it is at all," he says.

“Coming home from the game they're all analysing it before you have a chance to. They're telling you nearly all the things that are in your head, good or bad, about it.

“You're discussing all the important calls on the way home as well as having the craic.

“Those lads are important because if you just have lads that are telling you that you made every call right then those guys are no good to you.”

When he looks back on his career, are there any days that especially stand out?

“There's numerous days,” he says. “I was lucky enough to referee All-Ireland Finals, a full house above in Clones stands out, the Leinster Final is another good memory even though it was the Covid year.

“The place was empty but there was a Bloody Sunday commemoration and to be there as a Tipperary representative with the lads was touching.

“Probably though to referee or to officiate in Croke Park any day with a full house is probably the highlight.”

He’ll miss officiating at the highest level but he knows he had a good innings and hopes to continue contributing on the club scene in Tipperary for some time yet.

“You're bound to miss it,” says O’Mahoney. “It's the buzz of the big day, it's the buzz of heading off in the morning. I think my family will miss it at home as well.

“They were a big help to me. Margaret, Emer and Darren. They were a big help to allow me to go. The support I got from home from my Mam and Dad was amazing too.

“I'll miss it but I'll be home more to get to see the lads playing football and hurling a little bit more. I like to think I'll stay involved at refereeing at some level and maybe I can help some of the younger lads develop.”