HISTORY WILL be made in the Cavan Senior Football Championship final replay between Gowna and Ramor United this weekend as a female will become the first woman to referee a mens football game for the first time ever.
Maggie Farrelly will become a history maker. A trailblazer since 2015, she became the first women to take charge in a men's inter-county game when she took centre stage in the Ulster Minor Football Championship quarter-final between Fermanagh and Antrim. This was followed up with a McKenna Cup match between Fermanagh and St Mary's.
"History in the making," Cavan GAA announced on Twitter.
History in the making Congrats to Margaret Farrelly who has been appointed Referee to the Kiernan's Service Station Senior Championship Football Final Replay Sunday 14th [email protected] pm in Kingspan Breffni. Margaret will be the first woman to officiate a Senior Men's county Final. pic.twitter.com/XAptcVl2l9
— Official Cavan GAA (@CavanCoBoardGaa) November 8, 2021
Farrelly said early on in the year that she hoped that one day male and female referees would come down to ability and not gender
"Starting out when I made my debut as an inter-county GAA referee, ‘history making’, ‘barriers’, and ‘gender’, all that kind of terminology was used," she said.
"What we are hoping for in the future is that we can take these words away, that it is no longer about gender, that it is just a referee that turns up to referee a game, that we shouldn’t have to distinguish between male or female referees, that it is just a referee, and hopefully that these headlines will be diminished, the glass ceiling is broken, and that many more people will follow in the footsteps of the likes of myself."
At the weekend, Gowna and Ramor United drew 0-10 each in the Cavan final at Breffni Park, setting up the replay on November 14th.
Congratulations and best wishes to one of our leading inter-county referees, Maggie Farrelly, who has been appointed to next Sunday's @CavanCoBoardGaa SFC Final replay
Maggie will become the first female referee in history to take charge of a senior men's county final#LGFA pic.twitter.com/9XL8RfwfLS— Ladies Football (@LadiesFootball) November 8, 2021
