FAMED Monaghan referee Pat McEnaney believes that flare-ups regarding the standard of officiating are more likely due to the condensed nature of this year’s championships.

The Corduff man, who will officiate the Oriel clash between Castleblayney and Clontibret this weekend, was speaking after another few days of controversy.

On Sunday, Clontibret boss John McEntee took to Twitter in the aftermath of his side’s loss to Inniskeen to slam the performance of Colin Murphy.

On Monday, referee Paul Faloon was accosted by a number of Kilcoo players at half-time after a string of unpopular decisions, and there were more heated scenes when the highly experienced official blew for the final whistle a minute ahead of time.

Former Referees’ Chief Pat McEnaney thinks that Faloon was entitled to more respect while accepting that players are also under serious pressure to perform week-in, week-out at the moment.

“I didn’t see the match so I can’t comment on his performance, but I think that most clubs would be more than happy for him to referee their games. He’s well-respected at national level and I think people who abuse referees need to look inside themselves.”

He continued: “Unfortunately the short season doesn’t help matters. I see it in Monaghan, every game is vital here, so there’s a lot more pressure on players and managers and referees to perform.

“There’s pressure on everybody, and it’s beginning to show in places.”

The All-Ireland Championship will be played under an old-style knock-out format this year, and McEnaney knows from experience that it adds an extra layer of pressure to already important championship ties.

“There’s more intensity to games when there isn’t a backdoor. If a ref doesn’t perform well, but a team has a second chance, it doesn’t get the same publicity. The heat isn’t as great.”

McEnaney also said that we must consider that the vast majority of games pass without incident.

“How many games are there on any given weekend? This weekend in Ulster, there’ll definitely be a 100 matches on, and not all of them are going to run smoothly because that’s what competition brings.

“People love to hear the bad stories so that’s what’s going to be publicised.”

McEnaney also issued a pithy rebuttal to Tyrone goalkeeping legend Finbar McConnell, who lambasted referees in an in-focus interview in this week’s edition.

McConnell, who steered his club Newtownstewart to a Junior Championship title, says he’ll never get back into management because of the ‘incompetency’ of referees. He also said that he’s willing to help the men in black but McEnaney says he should become a referee himself if he’s that bothered about it.

“To me his next step is to get into refereeing and I’m surprised he hasn’t. If he’s willing to help referees, why not put on a jersey and when he’s refereed for a few years, then we will listen to what he has to say.

“He has great experience of playing, but let him have a bit of experience of being a ref for two years, and then come and talk to us.”

By Niall Gartland