THE first man from ‘the six counties’ to take charge of an All-Ireland senior football final proper might have been expected to relish every second of the occasion.
As hordes of delirious Dublin supporters gathered round the edges of the Croke Park pitch on September 22, 1974, pouring down off Hill 16 in the final moments of the match, the scene was set for ecstatic celebrations.
‘The Jacks’ were back, ‘Heffo’s Army’ on a triumphant march after an agonising 16-year wait without even an appearance in the All-Ireland Senior Football Final, never mind winning it.
With a 0-14 to 1-6 lead over Galway, some Dubs fans could hardly wait, having to be dragged away from the sward by Garda.
Yet one man couldn’t wait to get OFF the Croke Park pitch. The yellow-jerseyed referee Paddy Devlin raced close to the tunnel area before blowing the long whistle, and departed through a clump of waiting Guards, perhaps thankful for the running talent he had displayed in his earlier days.
It was a second consecutive final defeat for the Tribesmen, but there was no suggestion that Devlin had favoured Dublin – indeed he’d even awarded Galway a penalty, which was saved by Paddy Cullen.
“A lot of boys would say to me, ‘Your da ran off Croke Park’,” states Devlin’s son Paul. “Paddy Devlin wasn’t a coward. He ran off for his own safety.”
Paddy Devlin had reason to be concerned too.
The official from the Omagh St Enda’s club in Tyrone had been assaulted after taking charge of the Ulster Final earlier in that 1974 season, between Donegal and Down.
“After the drawn game, a man from Cavan struck Daddy from behind, gave him a bad skelp – the Guards were involved,” recalls Paul.
“Some reckoned the Cavan man had money on Down, but I think it was a more sinister thing, payback for not stepping down from the replay of the 1972 All-Ireland.
“There’d been pressure on Daddy from Cavan to stand down, but he was awarded it, it was his All-Ireland.”
The 1974 Final was a memorable one for more than the Devlins, of course.
“It was the first year the Dubs were back, the Dubs are great supporters,” recalled Paul. “The Guards had been up that week with Daddy and told him to step up his security after what happened at the Ulster Final.
“The Guards had instructed Daddy when he blew the final whistle to be as close to the centre of the field as possible.”
Devlin also got instructions about when to blow the game up from Dublin boss Kevin Heffernan, who feared a controversial early end to proceedings. Down at the Hill end, pleading with supporters, ‘Heffo’ was shouting, ‘Don’t blow it up, Patsy’ – they used to call him Patsy down south – ‘Don’t blow it up, Patsy, we’re about to win the All-Ireland’.
Devlin himself went down to the Hill, waving supporters back off the pitch. “Daddy was very cool, calm, and collected.”
Such composure had been needed in 1972 as well. Only Cavan and Donegal among the nine Ulster counties had provided All-Ireland SFC Final referees before Devlin, and it was a fellow provincial official that he replaced:
“Daddy had done umpire at the drawn game, which Fintan Tierney from Cavan refereed. Normally the same man refereed the replay – but Offaly requested that they didn’t want the Cavan man for the replay, so Daddy got it, thank God.”
There was an element of luck involved, at least in how Paddy Devlin learned that he would make history. “Daddy was up in Bundoran, playing the [slot] machines with my mother. Brian McEniff came in and said ‘Patsy, I hear you got the All-Ireland Final’.”
Offaly won comfortably at the second attempt in 1972, defeating Kerry by 1-19 to 0-13. Paddy Devlin’s pace off the Croke Park pitch in 1974 meant he didn’t call for the ball and get his hands on it. However, he was presented with one from 1972, in Offaly colours and signed by their players. Paul still proudly holds onto it, despite an offer from golfer Shane Lowry to buy it from him.
Affection for him in the Faithful County lingers long. A Walsh Island man who met Paul at this year’s Leinster Hurling decider later posted him a programme from the 1974 All-Ireland Final.
Had there been more aggro in 1974, Paddy Devlin could have handled it, with Paul citing one example of how his father could look after himself:
“Coming out of the 2002 All-Ireland Final, who did we meet but Sean Quinn, from Teemore. Daddy would have refereed them in the Sixties, against St Joseph’s up at The Rock in Ballyshannon.
“Quinn said: ‘Do you mind the day in 1969 when you refereed us and St Joseph’s and you busted big McCaffrey?’
“Daddy gave a free in to St Joseph’s in the last minute. A big boy McCaffrey, a big quarryman, a tank of a man, came out to bust Daddy – but Daddy put up the elbow and busted him.”
Before he became a referee Paddy Devlin was a runner of note, with Armagh City Harriers, and a good player too.
Although he’s regarded as a Tyrone referee, Paddy was actually an Armagh man – born in Keady then brought up at Milford, just outside Armagh city.
A tenacious defender despite his small stature, Paul proudly recalls that his dad “marked Iggy Jones of Dungannon Clarke’s out of it at a ‘Gold Watch’ tournament at Casement Park, so he wasn’t soft. He was fit and quick.”
Paddy won senior championships in his native county with Armagh Harps in 1952 and 1955, then helped Omagh take the Tyrone title in 1957. He was part of the management team when they won it again six years later.
A delivery driver for Esso, a job offer from TW Scott took him to live in Omagh, where he became a stalwart of the St Enda’s club, holding various roles including chairman and treasurer.
He made his name as a referee, however, known for his good decision-making. “Frank Martin from Carrickmore told me, ‘Your daddy was the purest referee we ever had’. He knew when Daddy arrived that they were going to get fair play.”
Fair words were expected too, not foul. “He was a very religious man. I never heard him curse – he’d have sent you off for cursing. He would also have stopped games for the Angelus.”
Another aspect of his officiating also made Paddy Devlin stand out – or, rather, kneel down.
The 1974 All-Ireland Final Programme noted: ‘Colourful Patsy is well known for indicating the foul committed’, with Paul explaining:
“People remember him going down on one knee and pointing a free – maybe that was his religious element.”
Friendship did not sway Paddy Devlin, says Paul, who umpired for him throughout his teens.
“I remember Ballygawley playing Derrylaughan. Big Seamus Horisk was full-back for Ballygawley, I’d have known Seamus, he and Daddy would have been very good friends.
“A shot came in from Derrylaughan and I put the flag up for a point. Seamus came over and said: ‘Young Devlin, if you know what’s good for you, put that flag down’.
“I called Daddy in, they spoke – and Seamus apologised.”
That sense of fair play, of what was right, was passed down to Paul. “In 1975, Daddy had been refereeing for 25 years, but couldn’t get a ticket for the All-Ireland Final, the year after taking charge of the game. I wrote to Fr Brian Darcy, he sent me his two tickets, and Daddy and me went.
“The following Sunday morning he had a piece in the ‘Sunday World’ headlined ‘No reward for loyalty’.”
Loyalty mattered to Paddy, though, as Paul remembers. “It used to be other referees appointed as umpires, but Daddy made a request to bring along his own umpires. He had Peter Mullin, Harry Rogers, Brian McGuigan, and Johnny Campbell, with Leo Turbett as standby, a brother of the famous Thady.”
Although Paddy had taken charge of the 1967 All-Ireland Minor Football Final, some had thought that he would never get the big one, especially after he turned down a stepping stone to the senior grade.
His integrity led to him turning down the chance to take charge of the 1971 All-Ireland U21 Football Final, due to the involvement of Fermanagh.
“He was an honest man, and because he knew a lot of Fermanagh people – and Mummy is from Enniskillen - he stepped down from that. People said: ‘Ah, you’ll never get a go at Sam’ – but he did the next year.”
It seems scarcely believable that it took so long for someone from ‘the wee six’ to be chosen, but even the first referee from Ulster only arrived in 1942, Sean Kennedy from Donegal.
Paul Devlin, who knows a thing or two about GAA politics, comments: “It was probably looked at as a 26-county thing. There were a lot of referees from Leinster who got finals.”
Paddy Devlin proved himself more than worthy of the honour and the occasion, with Paul recounting praise from a legendary ‘voice of Gaelic games’: “In 1972 I met Michael O’Hehir in the Burlington Hotel the day after and he said ‘Young Devlin, I’m sure you were very proud of your father yesterday, he gave an exhibition of refereeing in Croke Park’.”
Family pride went through the generations. “I remember in his dressing room afterwards he was very emotional, his dad was there, but his mum had died a few years earlier. Obviously it was a big occasion for him.”
There ended up being a 50-year gap between the first Tyrone referee of an All-Ireland Final and a second man representing the O’Neill County, with Sean Hurson from Galbally taking charge in 2022.
However, that wait might only have been two years if not for the tenacity of Paddy Devlin, who came under pressure again.
“In 1974, a person came to the door and asked Daddy would he step down and give another Tyrone man the All-Ireland Final. Paddy Devlin wasn’t that soft – these things don’t happen.”
A half-century on from then, Hurson matched Devlin’s feat and also returned two seasons later to referee a second All-Ireland Final this year.
Paul Devlin made a particular point of being at this year’s senior football decider, for two reasons.
Firstly, it was 50 years on from his dad being first choice for that All-Ireland Final of 1974. Secondly, his dad’s native county Armagh were involved.
Paddy Devlin inspired Paul to take up the whistle himself, and he refereed from the age of 16.
“I went everywhere with him. I said to Daddy that I would referee in Croke Park while he was living.”
Paul eventually achieved his aim, through the unusual route of Kilkenny football, and the backing of Nickey Brennan.
“I did two Leinster Minor Finals and Daddy was there – you can’t buy that. I’ve photos of him meeting me there and smiling. A man I knew let Daddy through the gate [onto the pitch] to get those taken.”
When Paddy passed away in 2017, his three medals went to the grave with him – his ‘67 Minor and his two Sams. “He had three kids, but they were his medals. He gave us a lot of joy.”
The memories remain, though, as Paul Devlin concludes: “Wherever I go and people know GAA, they remember him for the right reasons. He wasn’t just an ordinary referee, he was a legend.”