Alan Kelly became the first Irish referee to take charge of a Champions League game when he officiated CFR Cluj’s 2-1 win against FC Basle on Wednesday night.Kelly was assisted by Damien McGrath and Ken Hennessy, while Anthony Buttimer and Neil Doyle were the additional assistant referees while Pádraig Sutton was the fourth official.
The Corkman performed well throughout the 90 minutes in a dull encounter though he was let down on a few occasions by his assistants.
Clockwatch commentary:
1940 Alan Kelly leads out the players for his first Champions League game.
1943 The six officials line up alonside the players for the Champions League signature tune. They look a bit nervous.
1945 Kelly stands proudly (and patiently) as photographers take pictures at the start of the match. Admittedly, you can see he looks quite proud to be in Romania tonight and very focused on the task at hand.
2 min First mistake from the Irish officials as Ken Hennessy flags a Basle striker offside when through on goal. Replay shows the striker is just onside.
4 min Damien McGrath makes a correct decision for an offside, easy call.
7 min Huggel’s arm connects with a Cluj midfielder Emil Dica. Kelly blows for a free-kick. Probably the right call, a card would have been harsh.
9 min Goal for Cluj as a corner comes in and Rada’s towering header finds the net. No complaints from the Basle players.
11 min A late tackle by a Cluj player goes unpunished. It was near the touchline and maybe, given that it is so early in the game, it is a sensible decison…..
13 min Another goal for Cluj, once again there is nothing for the six officials to get involved with.
14 min Kelly calls for a goal-kick after a Cluj corner is curled out of play before coming back inside the line.
21 min Competent debut so far. A very open game that Kelly is doing quite well with. He is letting the game flow and neither side have had any problems.
23 min Damien McGrath incorrectly adjudges a Cluj player to be offside. It wasn’t close – poor decision.
25 min First yellow card as Panin is booked for a late challenge, stamping on his opponent’s foot.
27 min Hennessy guilty of another incorrect offside call. Linesmen have been disappointing so far.
29 min Kelly blows for a free as Kulio is fouled 27 metres out from the Basle goal.
36 min Huggel goes close to getting a goal back for Basel. The goalkeeper palms it out for a corner.
38 min Not much for our extra officials Anthony Buttimer and Neil Doyle to do so far.
40 min As the Sky commentators, John Anderson and David Phillips, point out, there has been little to do for Alan Kelly and company so far.
42 min Cadu slides in on a Basel player, Kelly resists the chance to book another player. Again, it looks like a good choice by Kelly.
44 min Free for Basel. The Cluj players are very unhappy with this call as it looks as if a Basel players loses his footing when turning, rather than being brought down, on the edge of the area.
45 min As Basel prepare to take the free-kick, the ball doesn’t doesn’t look 10 yards away from the wall. Both teams are debating with Kelly.
The Basel players are moving closer to the ball in the run-up to the whistle being blown.
Kelly stops Alexander Frei taking the free and walks the Cluj defence back 10 yards for the second time.
45 min Frei sends the ball over the bar. Good refereeing by Kelly.
45 + 2 min Very late goal, two minutes into added time in the first period. Stocker’s near post header gets Basel back into it.
Half-time – Nothing major for the Irish referees to deal with so far, they can be relatively happy with their work so far.
46 min Alan Kelly gets the second half-underway
50 min An interesting insight into the work of the extra official as Kelly looks to his colleague behind the goal after the ball ricochets around on the edge of the area and bounces out of play.
Kelly is not sure whether it should be a corner or goal kick.
Anthony Buttimer is also clueless so he offers no help to Kelly.
Kelly decides on a goal kick and the Basel players are not too happy.
52 min Streller is booked by Kelly for a very poor challenge. The Sky commentator calls Kelly’s performance ‘magnificent’.
57 min Kelly dismisses another Basel penalty appeal. Prior to the yellow card the Basel players were appealing for a handball from a corner but Buttimer and Kelly were not interested.
61 min Basle really are keen for a spot-kick, with another player from the Swiss club appealing to Kelly after colliding with a Cluj man. Kelly once again rightly waves play on.
65 min The home supporters jeer Kelly’s latest decision as CFR Cluj are penalised.
The fans are more upset with their own team’s performance than Kelly’s decision as Basel are continually keeping possession.
73 min Not much for Kelly to do, the officials have failed to grab much attention throughout the game and that can only be a good thing.
77 min As Basel continue to press a host of substitutions are made, increasing the time fourth official Pádraig Sutton will add on.
81 min There has been a total of six shots on target so far in this game.
84 min Kelly awards a free to Cluj from a Basel corner after pushing in the penalty area.
87 min Cluj players are not happy with this decision but Emmanuel Kone does make contact with Huggel. Free to Basel from 25 yards out.
89 min The free-kick comes to nothing. Moments later there is some squabbling between players from both teams but Kelly immediately interjects and breaks up any more trouble very decisively.
90 min Fourth official Pádraig Sutton indicates there will be at least four minutes of added time.
90 + 1 min Rada is booked by Kelly for time-wasting.
90 + 3 min Kelly correctly awards Cluj a free after a spell of Basel pressure. The Romanian side look set to claims the three points.
Full-time – Alan Kelly blows for full-time in what can only be described as a successful debut for the Irish officials in Europe’s premier club competition.
