Gough all set to take charge of his second All-Ireland Football Final

Slane club man was in middle of field for Kerry v Dublin SFC climax in 2019

Slane man David Gough was last week confirmed as the referee for the 2023 GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Final between Dublin and Kerry taking place on Sunday, in what will be his second senior final and the first since 2019 which involved the same two teams.

David is a member of the Slane Gaelic football club and has also refereed the 2013 All-Ireland U21 Football Final, the 2015 All-Ireland Minor Football Final and the 2018 All-Ireland Senior Club Final. Along with the Munster final in 2016, Connacht final in 2017 and the Ulster final in 2018, 2021 and 2023.

In this year’s Football Championship, David refereed the Connacht semi-final between Roscommon and Galway, Ulster final between Armagh and Derry and in the All-Ireland Series, Galway v Tyrone in Round 1, Cork v Kerry in Round 2, and the quarter-final between Dublin and Mayo.

Also during the season David has refereed three Division 1 Allianz Football League games, along with one Division 3 Allianz Football fixture, as well as the senior club semi-final between Glen and Maigh Cuilinn. The final will be David’s 46th senior championship game to referee since his first in 2013.

His umpires on All-Ireland day will be Dean, Eugene, Stephen and Terry Gough, all members of the Slane club. His linesmen will be Monaghan’s Martin McNally and Galway’s James Molloy, and Martin will be the standby referee. The sideline official will be Fergal Kelly from Longford.

Slane GFC has described it as “super news and well deserved - a very proud club”.

When Gough was appointed to the 2019 final, there were grumblings in Kerry, where it was claimed that as the Meathman lived and worked in Dublin as a educationalist, he would favour the city team.

Former Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice called it an "injustice."

At the time, Gough responded by pointing out that he and Jonny Cooper had the same employer, but that had not led to bias in his decision to send the Dublin defender off.

Balls.ie quotes Gough as saying: "When I had to issue a second yellow card to Jonny, what people don't realise is that he and I work in the same university. I work in Drumcondra, he works in Glasnevin (as a recruitment officer). In three years I think we have seen each other twice, we have probably passed each other those two times and said hello, but we have never had a conversation as such." Dublin fans have pointed to that red card for Cooper as a counter argument to the accusation of pro-Dublin bias from Gough, while arguing that his origin in rival county Meath is a reason he could be seen to be biased against the county.