Tommy Sugrue is a

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

referee from

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

. He is from, and lives in,

Tralee Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...

. Sugrue refereed four

finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the All-Ireland SFC during the 1980s and 1990s:

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

(both the drawn game and replay),

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

Career

He began refereeing in 1977, got given the 1983 Kerry County Final. Then off it all went for him. He got

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in the 1983 National League semi-final then he gotput onto to the inter-county referees' panel. He did more than 13 years of inter-county. He refereed National Football League semi-finals and finals (he refereed the 1990 National Football League final wearing socks), he refereed four All Ireland SFC semi-finals, an

All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship The GAA Football Under-20 All-Ireland Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the EirGrid GAA Football Under-20 All-Ireland Championship) is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association ...

and Club Final, he refereed in the

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

and

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the Irish province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in April. The final is ...

s. He refereed the four All-Ireland SFC finals: 1988's Cork v

Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

(drawn game and replay); 1992's Donegal v Dublin; 1994's Down v Dublin. Sugrue refereed four

of the

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

. First came the 1988 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, contested by Meath and Cork, the game when they got a Kerryman to referee a Cork game. This ended in a draw so there was a replay, which Sugrue also refereed and which Meath won by a point. Sugrue then refereed the 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final between Donegal and Dublin. He gave a penalty to Dublin a penalty early in the game. The Dubs thought they had the game won easy.

Charlie Redmond Charles Redmond (born 1963/1964) is a Dublin-born former Gaelic footballer who played at senior level for the Dublin county football team, Dublin county team and current manager of Trinity Gaels GAA, Trinity Gaels seniors. His notoriety within t ...

, faced with

Gary Walsh Gary Walsh (born 21 March 1968) is an English football coach and former professional player who is a goalkeeping coach at club Port Vale. He played as a goalkeeper in a 21-year professional career, making 282 league and cup appearances. He was ...

, stepped up to take the kick. Redmond missed. Dublin never recovered and Donegal easily outscored them to claim their first All-Ireland title. Then the 1994 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final between Down and (again) Dublin. Dublin couldn't win that one either. Of the four All-Ireland SFC finals that Sugrue refereed it was the 1992 final that he was most pleased with, because Donegal won it. In 2018, Martin Breheny listed the 1988 replay and 1992 as the tenth and seventh greatest All-Ireland SFC final respectively. Sugrue spoke to ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' before the

1996 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final The 1996 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was the 109th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1996 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland. It wen ...

replay about his own experience from the 1988 replay, which was the last time this had happened. He said: "It's the last thing a referee needs, going through it all again, the sleepless nights, not being able to eat, getting sick. Everyone knows the sacrifices players make for these big occasions. It's the same for referees. I've a local semi-final coming up and I'm training four nights a week. It's the last thing you want, having to psyche yourself to go through the physical torment and the things that get said, even phone calls to your house. It has a terrible effect on your family. I know it's the same for players but they could be on a holiday in the Canaries in a few months. A referee gets nothing. I don't envy Pat McEnaney going through it all again."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sugrue, Tommy Year of birth missing (living people) Living people All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final referees Gaelic football referees Sportspeople from Tralee