There are six news faces on this year’s panel of inter-county hurling referees that will take charge of all of the big games in this year’s Championship.
The 14-strong panel has been expanded from ten as it will cover the second tier Joe McDonagh Cup as well as the Liam MacCarthy.
The new-comers are Colum Cunning from Antrim, Galway’s Liam Gordon, Rory McGann, Clare, and Carlow’s Patrick Murphy.
Cathal McAllister and Johnny Ryan both return to the inter-county panel having not been part of the set-up last year.
Not returning from the 2018 panel are former All-Ireland final referees Diarmuid Kirwan of Cork and Westmeath’s James McGrath.
McGrath famously announced his retirement from inter-county refereeing last year when he was overlooked for the Liam MacCarthy Cup decider between Limerick and Galway.
There is less turnover in the panel of football whistlers, Brendan Cawley of Kildare and James Mooney from Galway being promoted. Missing from last year’s panel are Padraig Hughes (Armagh) and Cormac Reilly (Meath).
James McGrath speaks to RTE Sport about his decision to retire from the inter-county referee panel in the light of the appointments committee not appointing him as one the match officials for the 2018 final pic.twitter.com/eHrGrkU2wQ
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) August 8, 2018
Inter-county football: Ciaran Branagan (Down), Barry Cassidy (Derry), Brendan Cawley (Kildare), David Coldrick (Meath), Niall Cullen (Fermanagh), Maurice Deegan (Laois), David Gough (Meath), Jerome Henry (Mayo), Sean Hurson (Tyrone), Fergal Kelly (Longford), Conor Lane (Cork), Martin McNally (Monaghan), Joe McQuillan (Cavan), James Molloy (Galway), Noel Mooney (Cavan), Paddy Neilan (Roscommon), Anthony Nolan (Wicklow), Derek O'Mahoney (Tipperary).
Inter-county hurling (Liam MacCarthy and Joe McDonagh): Sean Cleere (Kilkenny), Colum Cunning (Antrim), Liam Gordon (Galway), Fergal Horgan (Tipperary), John Keenan (Wicklow), Alan Kelly (Galway), Colm Lyons (Cork), Cathal McAllister (Cork), Rory McGann (Clare), Patrick Murphy (Carlow), Johnny Murphy (Limerick), Paud O'Dwyer (Carlow), James Owens (Wexford), Johnny Ryan (Tipperary).
Inter-county hurling (Christy Ring, Nicky Rackard, Lory Meagher): Kevin Brady (Louth), James Clarke (Cavan), James Connors (Donegal), Aiden Ferguson (Fermanagh), Thomas Gleeson (Dublin), Justin Heffernan (Wexford), David Hughes (Carlow), Shane Hynes (Galway), Gearoid McGrath (Wexford), Chris Mooney (Dublin), Mick Murtagh (Westmeath), Sean Stack (Dublin), Nathan Wall (Cork), Thomas Walsh (Waterford).
