A TEAM OF officials from Donegal has been appointed to oversee an amateur international between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland on Wednesday evening.
The game, at John Sherlock Park, Lecarrow, in Roscommon at 7pm, will be refereed by St Johnston man Paul Duddy.
St Johnston’s Packie Coll and Burnfoot’s Eamon Doherty will be the assistant referees and Muff native Terence Moyne has been appointed as the fourth official.
“It’s the biggest game that I’ve been appointed to,” Duddy told Donegal Sport Hub.
Paul Duddy
Duddy has taken charge of international games previously, in the European Defence Forces Championships while he refereed the European Futsal final between Russia and Ukraine in Switzerland in November 2010.
“It’s a nice one to get and it’s great for refereeing in Donegal that the whole team is from the county.
“I’ve been in refereeing for over 20 years now and these big games don’t come along too often. This is the first international at this level that I’ve been involved at.
[adrotate group=”76″]“There is plenty of experience with us. It’s good to have people with you who you know how they operate. That takes on a lot of importance and it’s nice for us all to be in there with men we know.”
Duddy took up refereeing in the mid-1990s. While playing for St Brigid’s, the now defunct side based in Porthall, Duddy sustained a broken leg.
During his time out injured, he ran the club’s under-12 team. It was during this period when, at a Lifford and District Schoolboys League meeting, he was asked to consider a career with the whistle by Eunan Kelly.
[adrotate group=”46″]“I went and did what was a 12-week course,” Duddy said. “Ten of the weeks were on laws, then there was a practice and then the exam.
“My first ever game was Inver versus Cranford United in Inver. I’ll never forget that first game. It went reasonably okay.”
Duddy went on to officiate at League of Ireland level for 12 years. Moyne is a FIFA-qualified assistant and was on duty for a UEFA Intertoto Cup game between Rapid Wien and Rubin Kazan in 2007.
Duddy says he enjoys refereeing and has urged young people in Donegal to consider taking it up as a career.
[adrotate group=”82″]He said: “It’s a good avenue to realise your full potential if you’re not going to be the player you want to be. For me, personally, I grew up playing alongside the likes of Johnny Tinney and Maurice Toland.
“Maurice went to play in the League of Ireland with Finn Harps. I’d never have made it as a player, but I got to grace the same venues via a different avenue.”
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