Kerry boss rails against media 'lies' and slams GAA disciplinary system
Saturday July 31 2010
JACK O'Connor last night launched an astonishing eve of All-Ireland quarter-final attack on the media while also querying if the GAA's disciplinary authorities were singling out Kerry players for particular attention.
The Kerry manager said he hoped their season wouldn't end with two of their star players, Paul Galvin and Tomas O Se -- both of whom will miss today's clash with Down due to suspension -- watching from the stands and questioned the approach to his players by the GAA's disciplinary system.
"It's ironic that two Kerry players are the main recipients of GAA justice this year when there are a lot of things going on in other games," he said.
"I just hope the powers that be are looking at every game with the same microscope that they're looking at Kerry games."
O'Connor claimed that there were media commentators who wanted to see Kerry beaten because they had been too successful for too long and also alleged that Galvin was being targeted by opponents.
"When you're on the road as long as we are, a lot of people want to see the back of you for the simple reason that they want a new story. I mean what can be new about Kerry that hasn't been written? Some people are just waiting for our demise," he said.
He claimed that "a fair share of stuff was thrown at us over the years about being a cynical team and a dirty team" and pointed out that Tomas O Se had only been sent off once in a long championship career. He also defended Galvin.
"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realise that Paul Galvin has been targeted. Maybe people realise he has a short fuse and work on that. But look, we've never used grievances to gel us," he said.
Reflecting on last year, he was scathing of the media coverage of Kerry.
"A lot of people had written bad stuff about us -- they told lies about us. Fairly noted commentators on the national airwaves were saying teams wouldn't play for me because of what I said in the book (his autobiography in 2007).
"That was hurtful at the time but it couldn't be further from the truth," he said.
- Martin Breheny
Irish Independent
