Sean Hurson is a Gaelic football referee. He is a member of the Galbally Parses club in County Tyrone. He was appointed to referee the 2022 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, becoming the first Tyrone man to do so since Paddy Devlin oversaw the 1974 final.

Career

Hurson began refereeing in 2008. The coin that is used by Hurson, in the

coin toss A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...

between the two captains at the beginning of each of Hurson's games, is a one pound coin engraved with Hurson's initials. It was presented to him by a former umpire of his, Dermot McCaffrey, the week before McCaffrey died in February 2019. McCaffrey advised Hurson that he would be there in spirit for the coin toss if he used it. That coin is kept by Hurson's umpires and used before every game in McCaffrey's memory.

Club

Hurson refereed the 2010, 2012 and 2013 Tyrone JFC final, as well as the 2013 Tyrone IFC final. He also refereed the 2014, 2016 and 2018 Tyrone Senior Football Championship finals. At provincial club level, Hurson oversaw the 2016 and 2019 Ulster Club finals. At national level, he took charge of the 2015

All-Ireland Intermediate Club Football Championship The All-Ireland Intermediate Club Football Championship is an annual gaelic football competition which began in 2003. The winners of the Intermediate Club Championship from each county enter the competition. Finals by year Winners by County S ...

final. He then oversaw the

2021–22 All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship The 2021–22 All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship was the 51st staging of the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county club football tournament. It was the first club champion ...

final between Kilcoo and

Kilmacud Crokes Kilmacud Crokes ( ir, Cill Mochuda Na Crócaigh) is a large Gaelic Athletic Association club located in Stillorgan, Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Background Kilmacud GAA club was formed in 1959 following a historic public meeting in Saint ...

Inter-county

Hurson refereed the 2014 National Football League Division 3 final and 2018 National Football League Division 2 final. He refereed the 2018 All-Ireland Minor Football Championship final, the

2021 All-Ireland Under-20 Football Championship The 2021 All-Ireland Under-20 Football Championship was the fourth staging of the All-Ireland Under-20 Football Championship, All-Ireland Under-20 Championship and the 58th staging overall of a Gaelic football championship for players between the ...

final, the

2019 Leinster Senior Football Championship The 2019 Leinster Senior Football Championship is the 2019 installment of the annual Leinster Senior Football Championship organised by Leinster GAA. Teams The Leinster championship was contested by 11 of the 12 county teams in Leinster, a prov ...

final, and the

2020 Connacht Senior Football Championship The 2020 Connacht Senior Football Championship was the 121st instalment of the annual Connacht Senior Football Championship organised by Connacht GAA. It is one of the four provincial competitions of the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Champions ...

final. In the 2022 inter-county championship, Hurson oversaw the 2022 Connacht Senior Football Championship quarter-final between New York and Sligo, the

2022 Leinster Senior Football Championship The 2022 Leinster Senior Football Championship was the 2022 iteration of the Leinster Senior Football Championship organised by Leinster GAA. The draws for the preliminary round and quarter-finals took place on Saturday 27 November 2021, while ...

semi-final between

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional ce ...

and

Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

, the 2022 Ulster Senior Football Championship final between Donegal and Derry and the 2022 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final between

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

and

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 ...

. He finished the season with the 2022 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final between

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

and

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 Count ...

, a first senior final for Hurson. Hurson is a clubmate of Kerry coach

Paddy Tally Paddy Tally (born 1970s) is a Gaelic football Manager (Gaelic games), manager and coach. A member of the Galbally Pearses GAC, Galbally Parses club, Tally was a squad member when Tyrone county football team, Tyrone played in the 1995 All-Irelan ...

. Ahead of the 2022 All-Ireland SFC final, Galway manager

Pádraic Joyce Pádraic Joyce (born 1 April 1977) is a Gaelic football manager and former player who played as a forward. He has been manager of the senior Galway county team since 2019. Joyce won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship twice with Ga ...

was asked to comment on this. Kerry manager Jack O'Connor was also asked about it. Hurson sent off Paul Conroy in Galway's 2022 National Football League game against Derry. By the end of 2022, Hurson had refereed every major national final except the

Munster Senior Football Championship The Munster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship and shortened to Munster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It ...

and the

MacRory Cup The MacRory Cup is an inter-college (school) Gaelic football tournament in Ulster at senior "A" grade. The MacLarnon Cup is the competition for schools at senior 'B' grade. Players must be under nineteen at the start of the tournament. The win ...

, the latter of which he was appointed to referee in 2020 but the competition ended prematurely due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Personal life

Hurson is married and, as of 2022, was the father of two daughters and a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurson, Sean Year of birth missing (living people) Living people All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final referees Gaelic football referees Place of birth missing (living people)