Colm Lyons has been selected by the GAA to referee next weekend's All-Ireland SHC final between reigning champions Limerick and Leinster champions Kilkenny at Croke Park.
It will be the Corkman's first senior inter-county final as the man in the middle. Lyons, a member of the Nemo Rangers club in Cork, previously refereed the 2012 All-Ireland minor hurling final, the 2017 Allianz Hurling League final, the 2017 Leinster final, and the All-Ireland senior clubs finals of 2018 and 2020.
Lyons will be helped by Ciarán Hanley, Johnny Barry, Philip Mackey, and Finian Mullane who have been picked as umpires. Paud O'Dwyer and Michael Kennedy will be sideline officials with Galway's Liam Gordon as standby referee.
Lyons has interesting afternoons with Kilkenny and Limerick this summer. The Cork native refereed the Kilkenny-Galway clash in the Leinster round robin made famous for the Brian Cody-Henry Shefflin handshake. Lyons blew for a late free on Paddy Deegan, which Conor Cooney converted into the game's winning point. Brian Cody was not pleased afterwards.
1 May 2022; Referee Colm Lyons leaves the pitch followed by Kilkenny manager Brian Cody after the Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 3 match between Galway and Kilkenny at Pearse Stadium in Galway. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Lyons also reffed Limerick v Clare in the Munster round robin. Lyons came under criticism from fans and pundits after showing Limerick talisman Gearóid Hegarty two yellow cards in that fixture.
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Hegarty was shown his first yellow card after attempting to take a quick sideline ball and was later given his marching orders after an altercation with Clare's Aaron Fitzgerald in the dying moments of the game.
15 May 2022; Gearóid Hegarty of Limerick receives a red card, second yellow, from referee Colm Lyons during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 4 match between Clare and Limerick at Cusack Park in Ennis, Clare. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
There's been a lot of debate about hurling refereeing this summer, and we hope Lyons borrows from the John Keenan handbook when reffing next Sunday's game. As Joe Canning said of Keenan's work in the 2022 Munster final:
He added to the whole match. That was of the best matches, people would say, in the last 10 or 20 years, one of the greatest Munster finals, and without John Keenan refereeing it, you wouldn't have got the match that you got because he left the game flow. He pulled for frees when he had to pull for frees. He tried to make it a proper game of hurling. In fairness to him, he did. You have to commend him on that."
It a massive honour for the Nemo man, and it will undoubtedly be a fantastic game between the countries best hurling sides. Only Kilkenny stand in the way of Limerick securing a third All-Ireland title in a row.
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