A Donegal man refereed Liverpool v Athletic Bilbaoi before a full house at the Aviva Stadium at the weekend and will now take charge of Friday’s FAI Cup clash between Finn Harps and Bohemians at Finn Park.
Burnfoot native Paul McLaughlin will be the man in the middle on Friday night as Ollie Horgan’s Harps welcome the Gypsies for the Cup tussle.
On Saturday, McLaughlin refereed as a close-to-full-strength Liverpool defeated Bilbao 3-1.
Roberto Firmino, Ben Woodburn and Dominic Solanke were on target for the Reds with Inaki Williams netting for Bilbao.
Some 51,333 were in attendance. McLaughlin awarded Liverpool a penalty in the first half. On 21 minutes, Firminho was taken down by Inigo Lekue and McLaughlin pointed to the spot, with Firmino converting from 12 yards.
Liverpool included record signing Mohamed Salah among their number.
The surroundings will be rather different on Friday for McLaughlin as Harps and Bohs bid for a place in the next round of the Cup.
McLaughlin, a Garda based in County Louth, has taken charge of several high profile games and in 2015 was named as the Referee of the Year at the PFAI Awards. He has been officiating in the League of Ireland since 2008.
McLaughlin, originally from the Aileach club, holds a FIFA badge and has been involved in games at Champions League and international level.
