FOR the third time this season, James Owens (Wexford) will referee a Munster Senior Hurling Championship fixture involving Limerick.
He has already taken charge of Cork/Limerick and Limerick/Waterford.
In the former, Limerick captain Cian Lynch was red-carded.
Last summer, he replaced a cramped Thomas Walsh (Waterford) in extra-time of the Final between Limerick and Cork at the Gaelic Grounds, a tie which became the first ever to be decided on penalties.
The Askamore clubman also officiated Limerick’s All-Ireland Final breakthrough win over Galway at Croke Park in 2018.
He is a 23-year veteran of the intercounty scene.
Owens’ score umpires are normally James Dunbar, Joe Kelly, Ian Plunkett and David Owens.
Ahead of this appointment, Limerick manager John Kiely felt that officials appointed to the big matches come in with similar aspirations to players.
“This is their big day and they want to get it as right as they possibly can. They’re obviously under great pressure. It’s a tough, tough job,” said Kiely, who is a stiff inhouse referee at training.
“It requires the full cooperation of their whole team. They have four umpires, two linesmen, a fourth official, and a referee.
“None of the teams want to walk away feeling that an incorrect decision might have cost them the game. I’m sure the referee doesn’t want to go home knowing that he made a mistake that cost the game as well.”
He concluded: “We’ve only got a few so we need to mind them. They’re not hanging off the trees. So, the bottom line is we wish them the very best, we hope that they have a great game. We hope they walk away feeling proud of their job they’ve done.”