Billy Dennehy details 'very good' discussion with FAI refereeing boss

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Billy Dennehy has held a clear-the-air meeting with the FAI’s top brass of League of Ireland refereeing in a bid to understand a host of decisions going against his side. 

The Kerry boss has been left frustrated at times in recent months with some high-profile errors costing his side points during their debut League of Ireland campaign.

And just last week the Kingdom chief met with Ian Stokes – the FAI’s head of refereeing – to discuss his concerns.

“I had a meeting with Ian Stokes,” Dennehy explained. “It was a very good conversation and it was based on facts and figures in regards to the decisions that have gone against us. Some of them are very clearly the wrong calls going against us on the day.

“It is human error at times but the supporters, media and players are feeling like it is continuous. Sometimes you say that the decisions balance themselves out throughout the season but it hasn’t in our case.

“The points were well received and some couldn’t be disagreed with. Maybe because we have young players playing in the league for the first time and being inexperienced means it is easy to not take (our) opinions on board and give decisions for them (other teams).

“Those things can change momentum in games and that’s what I have found at this level. It can shift very quickly and it can result in a goal being scored very quickly.

“Those moments can hinder us from getting more points on the board but we have to control what we are doing and at times that needs to be better.

“But going into next season we hope that the referees will not see Kerry as the new team on the block anymore and see the games as more evenly contested and the decision making can become more consistent.

“I think that can benefit everyone.”



Last month Dennehy claimed that there was a ‘pattern’ of decisions going against his side after their 3-2 loss at home to Treaty United. And just last week Leo Gaxha was denied a run on goal against Drogheda with a marginal offside call in their narrow FAI Cup defeat.

And as a result he was able to speak to FAI’s refereeing department to seek clarifications – with Stokes on hand to deal with them.

“You can request a meeting and he was very forthcoming with his time,” Dennehy added. “We had a good conversation but I won’t go into the details of it. It was a private one but some of the points I mentioned were well received.

“I think he realised that I am a manager who is not contacting him after one game after being denied a stonewall penalty against Cobh at home… It was seven months into a season with an accumulation of points and incidents that I wanted to highlight and escalate.

“Hopefully we can see a bit more consistency throughout the officiating for the rest of the season that will hopefully make the games a bit more balanced.”

And while Dennehy would rather not have to speak to referees about contentious calls going against his side he admits that open lines of communication between officials and coaches is a positive step forward.



“It’s excellent because nothing can improve without shared feedback and constructive criticism at certain times,” he explained. “It is always done in a way to improve things and make the overall product of the league better.

“He was brilliant and I am sure that other managers around the league have had similar conversations but the refereeing department is another area. It will take a bit of collaboration to improve standards and everyone in the league is doing that.

“You can see that football is improving in the Premier and First Division all the time and refereeing is something that we are trying to improve as well. It’s great to be able to have those conversations but hopefully we won’t have them too often.”

But on the pitch at least Kerry have improved considerably since their start to the season – with their recent 1-0 defeat against Premier Division outfit Drogheda United underlining their progress.

However, the challenge for Dennehy is to ensure his side sustains the level of performance that almost dumped Drogheda out of the FAI Cup last Friday.

“When there is a big build-up to a game the mind and attitude can be a bit more focused,” he said. “When you go back to a league game that’s when good players show their levels.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re playing at Mounthawk Park in front of a full house, a carpark with your mates or at Old Trafford in front of over 60,000 people. Your mindset and attitude has to be the exact same. All the processes should stay the same.

“That’s what I will be saying to the players. If we do that we will definitely pick up more points between now and the end of the season.”

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