Pat Kelly initially followed his father Tim’s lead by becoming a top-level referee before then inspiring his sons Alan and Graham to take up a similar role.

He achieved a number of great things throughout his storied career but he is arguably best remembered for overseeing a match involving the one and only Diego Maradona.

Pat was an international referee at the time and was named the head official for a friendly between Switzerland and Argentina, who were captained by Maradona, on the 8th of May 1990.

The former FIFA Referee also took charge of two FAI Cup Finals in 1987 and then in 1996. After 21 years as a UEFA observer, where he oversaw some huge champions league clashes, he stepped down from the position in 2019 but continued to assess matches in the League of Ireland and locally in Cork.