BIG INTERVIEW: All-Ireland final 'a dream come true' says Kildare referee Brendan Cawley

He works as Education Manager for the Paramedicine Regulator in Naas, looking after education and examination, a teacher formally by trade, before getting into the education side of regulation.

Meet Brendan Cawley, husband to Rebecca, dad to two young daughters Jaime and Charley , Newbridge native, member of Sarsfields GAA Club.

Oh yeah. And All-Ireland Senior Football Championship referee having taken charge of last weekend's Kerry-Donegal decider in front of 83,000 fans in Croke Park.

And to say he did well would be a bit of an understatement.

All you have to do is look at RTÉ Sunday Game, on the evening of the All-Ireland final and the Kildare official hardly got a mention.

In refereeing terms, that is as good as it can get.

Did he look at the Sunday Game I asked when we met last week in Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge?

“Last Sunday, yes” he replied, before adding instantly “but normally absolutely not. I wouldn't look at the Sunday Game, we (referees) have access to a data base of every game, I would look at my game on the system (with no commentary), I wouldn't listen to what commentators or pundits say,so no, would not look at the Sunday Game under normal circumstances.”
Brendan is big into 'teams' first of all there is his team at home, his wife Rebecca.

“She is my nutritionist but also a huge support, when I am gone to Abbottstown, gone to matches; gone weekends, she is there at home together with the girls, I spoke last weekend about Donegal and Kerry being great teams, myself and my wife are a great team; while my own parents, Ger and Siobhán, have done a huge amount for me down the years.

“They started me off in GAA, brought me to Sarsfields from the time I was 5 or 6; bringing me to matches to referee when I was very young” adding with a laugh “what parents would bring their 16-year-old son to referee games and then be abused for an hour.?”

Another 'team' Brendan heaps praise on is his umpiring team.

“I would not be where I am today without the lads that have umpired for me; a lot of good fellas umpired for me along the way, be it club, college or national level; I have a brilliant team of six umpires, it is just unfortunate I can use only four, even though we have six flags now – I have Dave Coady, very well experienced, his son Lee (Moore), Johnny Farrell and Eoin Fitzpatrick, they are my four main umpires; Paddy McDermott and Henry

Barrett have done a lot along the way and they were with us for the whole weekend, I am hugely indebted to those lads who have traveled around the country, I make choices but it is those lads who make the sacrifices and the families behind them, I would not be where I am without them.”

And what was the experience of refereeing an All-Ireland final like, busy few days no doubt?

“The weekend was just absolutely fantastic, a dream come true; every single part of the weekend was absolutely perfect.

“We met as a group of officials, obviously ten of us now, you have your referee, two linesmen, fourth official, four umpires and now you have your Hawkeye official and your time official, so the ten of us, plus our wives, partners, along with my two extra umpires, we met in Castleknock around 3 o'clock, relaxed, chilled out, went to the pool, had dinner Saturday night.

“Then on Sunday morning, had the breakfast, a bit of a meeting just to focus the mind, went to Mass and then at 12.15 we got the bus to Croke Park, wander around, take it all-in, settled into it and just prepare, get the mind focused for the game and throw-in the ball.”

The Newbridge native said he had ten or twelve days before the final to get things sorted, adding “ there is a huge amount of logistics that go into it; we are very fortunate that Richie Whelan (Menswear Naas) and Kildare GAA looked after us with gear for Saturday and Sunday (suits for Sunday) along with other bits and pieces that have to be done.

“We were up in Abbottstown the Thursday prior to the final, for a pre-weekend meeting with Croke Park and again a bit of analysis, a review of some games and decisions and focus the minds again; a lot to it but all completely worthwhile.

“We treated it as if we were only going to get just one chance at it and left no stone unturned and I think that was evident come 5.30 on Sunday, we were very happy to have got through it with no impact on the game; no cards in an All-Ireland final which is very rare.”

Was he nervous coming up the final and on the day itself?

“Not that I was nervous, more a case of wishing the time away, you just wanted it to be 3.30 on the day of the game because you have worked so hard to get there you just want to throw-in the ball no. 1, and then it is very reactionary, you can only react to what comes, nervous in a way as you just want to do your absolute best for both teams, make sure that every decision is the right decision, whether it is a difficult decision or not, and we can enjoy then afterwards, knowing the job was done; no dramas is the key.”

So how, or why did he take up refereeing initially?

“When I was 16, in 2004, there was a referees' course, here in Keadeen actually in Newbridge, four nights in total and run by Mick Fenin, I liked it, did a couple of games, a lot of school games; went to college in UL and I suppose it was easy, if you were refereeing three games at the weekend at home or 12 hours in Tesco's, that was keeping me going through college.

“I got league games, which I enjoyed, went on to Leinster in 2012, three years later went on to national and in 2019 was called up to the championship panel, so here we are now 21 years after I started.

“I learned very quickly I was no good at playing so I needed to do something different to keep me involved” adding “it is no different to people in administration or on committees or whatever, the volunteering in the GAA, you don't have to be a player, there is a role for everyone in the Association, I just found refereeing, and I was reasonably good at it.”

And did you expect to be given the task of taking the final of 2025?

Definitely, came the quick response, adding “if you look at my last couple of years I did an All-Ireland senior semi-final in 2022, Galway v Derry; in 2024 I did Galway v Donegal; 2024 I did the All-Ireland Club final; 2023 I did the Division 1 final and I have a Connacht and Ulster final done as well so I have had a lot of big games along the way, so this year we set out to make sure that we would do everything right, whether it be fitness, nutrition and our performances, we had a lot of big challenges this year and I knew the day of the quarter-final once we had got through Kerry v Armagh, we could do no more, but, of course, it doesn't always work out that way.”

While, as he said, he wouldn't normally look at the Sunday Game or read or listen to what pundits say, would he look back at games and reflect on performance?

“Always, absolutely, a big part of high level sport is performance analysis, so we would be doing a big lot of that, self analysis, peer analysis and then the feed-back.

“On a Monday, usually, I would sit down and look at the full game, I would take my own notes and often be more critical than maybe an advisor or others; I would have good peers along with some of my colleges such as Sean Hurson and David Gough, we would watch each others games and then give one another feed-back.

“We have advisors, I have a mentor in Damian Brazil and then once a fortnight we have a meeting with Croke Park, you might get clips up and we would review them, so there would be a good bit of analysis.”

Would there be critical comment if a situation warranted it?

“Absolutely, for sure, we have to be trying to get the correct decisions and we are striving for that but, of course, there are times when we don't get the right decisions, there have been times I have made decisions that were incorrect but you have to learn from them and you have to be able to take that criticism.”

And outside of refereeing and all that goes with that what does Brendan Cawley do to relax, the reply is hardly a major surprise.

“I really enjoy going to watch games, a fantastic pastime going to matches, I go to a lot of senior inter-
county hurling games, I'm a big hurling fan, but refereeing is all-consuming, a normal week between work, training, whether it is on the Curragh or in the gym in Industrial Fitness (and I have to thank the crew in Industrial Fitness, Ross and Shelly for supporting me, especially out of hours) so outside of that my life is fully immersed in the GAA, and, of course my family.

While Brendan had high praise for all those mentioned he had special mention also for Mick Fennin, Martin Whyte, Mick Mullen and Martina Donnelly “who have all been so supportive of me, some for many, many years.”
Brendan returned to 'the middle' on Wednesday taking charge of an U14 game in Kilcullen.

What a contrast!
What dedication!
And the future?

A bit of a holiday next week, back for the championship (local), sure after that 2026 is on the way and we'll see what that brings.”

Many more big days.
No doubt!

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