Barry Cassidy is a
Gaelic football
Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...
referee. An inter-county championship referee since 2012,
[ Cassidy has been described as the top referee in ]Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
.[ A member of the ]Derry GAA
The Derry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste Chontae Dhoire) or Derry GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland. It is responsible for Gaelic games in County Londonderry ...
club Bellaghy
Bellaghy () is a village in County Derry, Northern Ireland. It lies north west of Lough Neagh and about 5 miles north east of Magherafelt. In the centre of the village (known locally as The Diamond) three main roads lead to Magherafelt, Port ...
, Cassidy refereed the inaugural Tailteann Cup final.
Career
Cassidy refereed his first Derry Senior Football Championship
The Derry Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by the top sixteen Derry GAA clubs. The winners receive the John McLaughlin Cup and qualify to represent Derry in the Ulster Senior Club Football Champi ...
final in 2010, Coleraine v Ballinderry Shamrocks
Ballinderry Shamrocks GAC ( ga, Baile an Doire na Seamróga CLG) is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Ballinderry, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The club is a member of the Derry GAA and cater for gaelic football and camogie. ...
.[ He also refereed the 2013 Derry SFC final, won by Ballinderry Shamrocks against ]Ballinascreen
Draperstown ()Toner, Gregory. ''Place-Names of Northern Ireland'', p. 85. Queen's University of Belfast, 1996; is a village in the Sperrin Mountains in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the civil parish of Ballinascreen an ...
.[
Cassidy worked on the ]2011 All-Ireland Minor Football Championship
The 2011 All-Ireland Minor Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the ESB Minor Football Championship) was the premier "knockout" competition for under-18 competitors of the game of Gaelic football played in Ireland. The games we ...
, as a linesman.[
His first ]National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
game came the following year (when he had to be escorted away by stewards after annoying Mayo Mayo often refers to:
* Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo"
* Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States
Mayo may also refer to:
Places
Antarctica
* Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land
Australia
* Division of Mayo, an Aust ...
supporters whose loss that game was).[
He was given charge of the ]2018 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
The 2018 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 131st edition of the GAA's premier inter-county Gaelic football competition since its establishment in 1887.
Thirty-three teams entered the competition – thirty-one of the thirty-tw ...
semi-final between Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
and Galway
Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...
, though he had never previously refereed even a quarter-final before that year, when he had taken charge of Galway v Kerry
Kerry or Kerri may refer to:
* Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name)
Places
* Kerry, Queensland, Australia
* County Kerry, Ireland
** Kerry Airport, an international airport in County ...
in the 2018 Super 8s.2020 Ulster Senior Football Championship
The 2020 Ulster Senior Football Championship is the 132nd installment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship organised by Ulster GAA. It is one of the four provincial competitions of the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. ...
final between Cavan
Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bally ...
and Donegal Donegal may refer to:
County Donegal, Ireland
* County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster
* Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland
* Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...
.
He took charge of the 2021 Munster Senior Football Championship
The 2021 Munster Senior Football Championship was the 2021 installment of the annual Munster Senior Football Championship organised by the Munster GAA. Kerry won the tournament beating Cork in the final.
Teams
The Munster championship is conteste ...
final between Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
and Kerry.
Even though Maurice Deegan
Maurice Deegan (born 1972) is a former inter-county referee from County Laois. A member of the Stradbally club, he refereed three finals of the All-Ireland SFC.
Career
Deegan began refereeing when the Stradbally club secretary asked if he would ...
had originally been announced as the 2022 Tailteann Cup Final
The 2022 Tailteann Cup Final was the inaugural final of the Tailteann Cup and the culmination of the 2022 Tailteann Cup. The match was played at Croke Park in Dublin on 9 July 2022, between Cavan and Westmeath. Westmeath won the match on a scor ...
referee, Cassidy ended up taking charge in Deegan's absence. Deegan had a sickness, said Brian Gavin
Brian Gavin (born 14 November 1957) is a fifth-generation diamond cutter from South Africa. Referred to as "Brian the Cutter," Gavin is best known for establishing a quality benchmark and grading system for hearts and arrows diamonds, a specializ ...
in his analysis of that game. He had contracted COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and this ruled him out of what would have been his final inter-county game.
Cassidy was then named as linesman for the 2022 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final
The 2022 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 135th final of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in Gaelic football, the culmination of the 2022 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. The match was played at Croke ...
.
Personal life
Cassidy's father was a referee.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassidy, Barry
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Gaelic football referees
Place of birth missing (living people)