Enda Stenson
OccupationChairman of Leitrim GAA
Years active33 as referee
Known for3 Connacht Senior Football Championship finals;
1994 Leitrim Senior Football Championship final

Enda Stenson is a former[1] Gaelic football referee, politician and current chairman of the Leitrim County Board.

Career

Stenson's career as a referee spanned 33 years.[1] In this time he refereed three finals of the Connacht Senior Football Championship.[1]

Stenson also refereed the final of the 1994 Leitrim Senior Football Championship between Allen Gaels and Aughawillan.[1] The game's final play proved contentious as Martin McGowan of Allen Gaels, who was playing with a dislocated spine, stood to take a free.[1] Aughawillan's full-back, Martin Flanagan, took up a position behind his goalkeeper, Martin Prior. McGowan struck the ball and expressed certainty that it was two yards over the bar. However, Aughawillan's Flanagan gave Prior "a bit of a hoosh" and Prior, with his shoulders close to level with the crossbar, caught the ball.[1] Stenson did not penalise the move and then blew the final whistle.[1] Thus Allen Gaels were denied a replay and Aughawillan secured a third consecutive championship title.[1]

Stenson and Flanagan were both present in Croke Park for the 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final when Tommy Walsh, the former Australian rules footballer, set himself up to lift 6-foot-4 teammate David Moran in a similar move to deny Dean Rock at the game's conclusion, though the ball did not land near the pair so the move did not occur.[1] Rock's effort went wide and it later emerged that the pair had asked referee David Gough, who had told them he would not penalise the move if they did it.[2]

Stenson became chairman of Leitrim County Board in December 2019.[3] He criticised the prospect of having to play games in other counties while being unable to visit a neighbour due to restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.[4][5] He then publicly criticised Tomás Ó Sé and called on him to resign after Ó Sé questioned the motivations of "weaker counties" after Sligo was forced to withdraw from the 2020 Connacht Senior Football Championship due to an outbreak of COVID in its squad.[6][7]

Stenson is also an Independent member of Leitrim County Council, on which he represents Carrick-on-Shannon.[1][8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Leitrim lifting: Kerry ploy evokes echoes in Aughawillan 25 years on - David Moran and Tommy Walsh's outside the box thinking last Sunday revived memories of a controversial 1994 Leitrim County final where Aughawillan were air-lifted to victory". RTÉ. 5 September 2019. On All-Ireland final morning, Martin Flanagan bumped into Stenson with his son-in-law on Clonliffe Road. Naturally the full-back relived the story with the usual gusto and the retired referee laughed along like he has done so for 25 years.
  2. ↑ "Moran-Walsh 'rugby lift' for late free in drawn game had been cleared by ref Gough". Irish Independent. 19 September 2019.
  3. ↑ "Leitrim chairman Enda Stenson wants change embraced". RTÉ. 8 July 2020.
  4. ↑ "Long road to championship could have more twists yet". RTÉ. 23 October 2020.
  5. ↑ "Leitrim chairman admits 'huge worry' over playing games". RTÉ. 15 October 2020.
  6. ↑ "Tomás O Sé urged to step aside as TV pundit by Leitrim GAA Chairman". Ocean FM. 5 November 2020.
  7. ↑ "Leitrim chairman calls for Tomás Ó Sé to stand aside as a pundit". Hogan Stand. 5 November 2020.
  8. ↑ "Enda Stenson". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
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