By John Harrington

The Dublin and Mayo footballers won’t be the only people pacing a dressing-room and trying to focus their minds an hour before throw-in this All-Ireland Final Sunday.

Referee Joe McQuillan and his fellow match officials will also go through a similar sort of ritual as they prepare for what’s just as big an occasion for them as it is the players.

So, just what is it like to be a referee on All-Ireland SFC Final day?

Sligo native and Enniscrone/Kilglass club-man, Marty Duffy, can answer that question, having taken charge of the 2009 All-Ireland SFC Final between Kerry and Cork.

This is his last year as a national referee, and he'll always look back on the '09 Final as the pinnacle of his career. 

“It's an absolute privilege,” says Duffy. “You start out refereeing club football and I'm still doing it to this day. Your dream is to take every step and do your own county final, a provincial final, and then hopefully someday reach the pinnacle of refereeing and All-Ireland Final.

“To have been part of it and to be able to say you were part of it, it's something that no-one can take away from you. You've been there, you've done it, you've been part of the day. It's just an absolutely fabulous experience.”

It’s also one that comes with a massive responsibility considering the stakes are so high, so nerves are as much a part of the day for referee as players.

“They are, but funnily enough in my case I would have found it more around when the announcement was first made that I would be refereeing it,” says Duffy.

“There's a huge amount of good wishes that come in various forms to you for that week and there's a huge buzz there.

“As we got closer to the game we had to just start thinking about, ‘Look, we have to make this the same as any other day as regards the game itself'.

"So, myself and the umpires and the linesmen and the stand-by referee, that's where we try to get our heads at.

“So, that once we get out there and once the National Anthem is over, it's the same as any other refereeing job in Markievicz Park or wherever."

A referee isn’t just a lone man in the middle, he’s part of a team just like the players are.

The linesmen and fourth official are there to assist him, but the most emotional support comes from his umpires who are most usually friends or even family members.

Duffy’s brother Michael was one of his umpires on All-Ireland Final day in 2009 along with Pat Cawley, Michael Kelly, and John Kilgallon, and it was reassuring to know he had men with him he could trust.

“Very much, yes. You can dress it up any way at all, but they're the guys you really, really depend on. Because they're the guys that have literally shared the highs and lows with you all through your career.

“For us, it was about getting our heads together and decide how we were going to do it on the day, what was going to happen on the day. We broke it down very precisely what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it.

“And even during the game, how we were going to manage it in blocks of ten minutes. In the first ten minutes we just wanted to get the balance right and a feel for what was happening.

“That’s more or less what you do. You try to make it as comfortable and normal as you can.

“The National Anthem is emotional in its own way. But once the teams like out it was like any other game.

“You're just concentrating on trying to do the best job you can and trying to get your decisions as close to right as you can.

“Then the game sort of goes in a bit of a blur and you don't maybe enjoy it as much as you would have liked. When you sit down and think back on it, you realise you didn't have the time to enjoy it."

Referees don’t just rock up to Croke Park on the morning of an All-Ireland Final at whatever time suits them best, just like the players they’re given a strict schedule they must stick to.

“Very much so,” says Duffy. “From once we meet up in Dublin on Saturday afternoon, everything will be laid out fairly precisely for you.

“There would be a dinner for all the officials on the Saturday night which is a nice occasion because you'd have partners and wives there as well. That's a nice opportunity to have a little social time before the storm of the following day.

“Then the day itself is choreographed fairly tightly as regards where you need to be and what you need to be doing at particular times.”

The post-match function and meal for the referee and other match officials is an opportunity to relax and reflect on the day, but it was only when Duffy was welcomed home to Sligo on the Monday after the game that it really sunk in what he had been a part of.

“It was huge, actually. It was the one thing that struck me more than anything else, the good wishes," he says.

“It was probably only afterwards talking to people and meeting people that you realised what it did mean. I got some lovely letters from people that I did know and people I didn't.

“Probably the nicest part of the whole All-Ireland weekend for me was on the Monday evening. I was training an U-12 team in the club and my wife said they wanted to make a small presentation to me for the All-Ireland.

“At that stage I was knackered but I went up anyway and there were probably between 250 and 300 people from the club there at the clubhouse. It was just superb, really emotional.

“It's probably the stand-out moment of the whole weekend.”