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14 Nov 2025
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14 Nov 2025
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Cork captain Mick McCarthy with match referee Tommy Howard of Kildare and Derry captain Henry Downey prior to the 1993 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final match, Photo by Sportsfile
Former GAA referee Thomas (Tommy) Howard was sentenced at Portlaoise Circuit Court yesterday to six years and nine months in prison for indecently assaulting his niece.
Mr Howard, from Old Kilcullen Co. Kildare, appeared before Judge Sinéad McMullen at Tullamore Circuit Court two weeks ago, where the court heard details of the abuse of his niece, Maeve Leahy, during the mid-1980s and 1990s.
During which time Mr Howard, now 79 years-old, was a prominent GAA referee and was in charge of the 1993 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final between Derry and Cork.
The now 46 year-old Ms Maeve Leahy waived her right to anonymity to name her uncle-in-law and spoke outside of Portlaoise Circuit Court after the sentencing, she said: "I do feel like I got my justice today. I hope that, now that I feel that I have gotten my justice, that I can carry on my life a bit better. I know from past experience's that reading other people's stories helped me and I just thought that if I could help somebody, even one or two people that are suffering in silence to come forward then that would be brilliant."
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