Who would want to referee the next game between Kerry and Donegal? I’ve met a fair few refs in my time and they all want to put their hand in the air for the big games. But the atmosphere has now got so thick between these two teams that you might find a few whistlers with tight hamstrings if they’re paired to face off again before the championship is over.I was watching Sean Hurson just before throw-in last Saturday and I thought he handled the whole thing very well. There were four or five wrestling matches going on around the pitch as he was standing over the ball. I’d say a ref that was less sure of himself might think he had to go around showing cards and laying down the law.Instead, Hurson was like a cop in a movie who sees a gang of fellas on a street corner who are up to no good. He knows that by the letter of the law, he should do something. But he has no back-up and it’s a grand sunny day so he decides to keep driving and look the other way. He handled it by not handling it. It was probably the right choice.Because the thing with Kerry and Donegal now is that an atmosphere builds around every game. The players know it, the crowd feeds it, the managers try to get the balance right going into it. In the middle of all that, a referee has to be his own man.I thought his scolding of Jack O’Connor and Jim McGuinness just before the second half showed a good bit of authority. You could see they didn’t appreciate it. For a start, Jack is a schoolteacher of old and he’d be used to the traffic going the other direction in that sort of encounter. Jim wouldn’t have been delighted either. But it took the sting out of the whole situation and showed everyone who was in charge.Still, I’d say Hurson’s phone might be off when they go looking for someone to take the rematch, if we get one in July. When two teams get into a rivalry like this, it is inevitable that the ref will eventually get it in the neck somehow.I was at the game in Killarney and for all the giving out in the days since, the reality is it wasn’t a dirty game. The melee was what it was – and Micheál Burns will deserve whatever ban he gets. But if you watch it back from start to finish, it’s a lot of finger-pointing and jersey-grabbing and fellas roaring. Schoolyard stuff, really.A bloodied Ryan McHugh of Donegal with the team doctor during last Saturday's All-Ireland SFC round-one match against Kerry at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho I wouldn’t be getting too high and mighty about McGuinness coming on to the pitch either. He saw his player get split open, with one fella holding him and the other boxing him in the head. If I was standing on a sideline and saw one of my players getting done like that, I know what my instinct would be. If you’re expecting any manager from any team to see that and just calmly walk to the dressingroom, you’re not living in the real world.[ Stephen Rochford: Jim McGuinness was in the wrong, but he deserves to be cut some slackOpens in new window ]What really stood out to me was the atmosphere around the game. You could feel it building. No game stands alone, every match has a history feeding into it. Donegal came to Killarney hurting from last year’s All-Ireland final. I have no doubt whatsoever that McGuinness, personally, is still hurting from losing the 2014 All-Ireland final. They couldn’t come to Kerry and take a backwards step.McGuinness knows the story down here better than most people. He was in college in Tralee. He knows the obsession Kerry people have with football. He knows as well that Jack O’Connor doesn’t like being beaten in any game and definitely doesn’t like taking a hiding. That’s two in the space of a couple of months now – the league final and last Saturday. Kerry can’t be letting that become the norm.So of course there’s going to be niggle when these teams meet again. There’ll be markers laid down and plenty of mouthing and smiling into each other’s faces. If it was boxing, it would be a promoter’s dream. What more do you want?Kerry's David Clifford gets to the ball as Brendan McCole of Donegal closes in. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho Every so often, you find two teams getting into a rivalry with each other where it verges on becoming toxic. We had a bit of that back in the day with Tyrone, although Tyrone were just so lovabe that they seemed to have it with a few counties as well as ourselves. It’s a funny thing – you get older and become friends with a lot of these fellas and you find it hard to put yourself back there and remember what it was that annoyed you about them.[ Jim McGuinness to face no disciplinary action over incident during Kerry-Donegal gameOpens in new window ]Mostly, it’s just that you’re both standing in each other’s way. Your whole life is built around lifting Sam Maguire on the last day of the season and so is theirs. It’s just easier to decide that you can’t stand them. The last thing you want to hear is that so-and-so is actually a really sound lad. Don’t be telling me that!Everything gets heightened on match day. The crowd play a huge part – the Kerry crowd on Saturday went after Michael Murphy every time he got on the ball and the Donegal crowd did the same to David Clifford. I thought they both handled it well. Murphy gave the Kerry crowd nothing, just doing his job to the letter. Clifford needed to be a bit more careful, although I thought there wasn’t a whole lot in the incident with Caolan McGonagle, who fell easy enough for a big strong boy.Donegal's Michael Murphy paid no notice to the hostile crowd reaction at Fitzgerald Stadium last Saturday. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho All in all, my main feeling coming out of Killarney was that I can’t wait for these two to meet again in Croke Park. Finnbarr Roarty held Paudie Clifford but I thought you could see Paudie’s game coming on and I don’t think he’s far away. Jim didn’t want to discuss Paudie after last year’s All-Ireland but he did address the issue. And I’d say Donegal reckon they have that problem boxed off now.But if Kerry can get Seán O’Shea back into the attack and Joe O’Connor playing a full game, Donegal won’t be able to give Roarty as much double-up help the next day. He’s a fine defender but a fully-fit Paudie Clifford playing in a fully-stocked Kerry forward line in Croke Park is a different problem.If both teams get there, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.