FOUR-time All-Ireland final referee David Coldrick will not be part of this year’s panel of referees for the championship, The Irish News understands.
Coldrick failed to meet the required standard in the fitness test to be part of the championship panel proper, meaning he will not be eligible to referee games.
The Meath man refereed New York’s historic win over Leitrim two weeks ago, but his appointment to that game was made well in advance due to the time required to sort travel and visas.
He will still be able to take part as a standby referee and linesman, but won’t be appointed as the man in the middle on any more games this summer.
Derek O’Mahoney, who refereed this year’s All-Ireland club final between Glen and Kilmacud Croke’s, also misses out having failed to reach the required standard of 17.4 on the bleep test.
Coldrick’s absence will be seen as the most significant. It is 16 years since he refereed his first All-Ireland final, the 2007 decider between Kerry and Cork, at the age of 30.
He went on to take charge of Cork’s win over Down three years later, then Dublin’s win over Kerry in 2015 and the 2020 clash between Dublin and Mayo.
Despite being assigned to high-profile games in almost every summer, Coldrick has managed to escape any major controversies and was regarded as a safe, dependable choice when it came to the big games.
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The Blackhall Gaels clubman still has three more years after this summer before reaching the mandatory retirement age of 50 for inter-county referees, so he could potentially return in future.
Coldrick and O’Mahoney had both been named as part of the 24-man championship panel earlier this month, which is up from the 16 referees used last year in order to cope with the significant increase in the number of games.
Last year’s All-Ireland final referee Sean Hurson is joined by Joe McQuillan, Noel Mooney, Conor Dourneen (all Cavan), Paul Faloon (Down), Barry Cassidy (Derry), Niall Cullen (Fermanagh) and Martin McNally (Monaghan) as Ulster’s representatives.
