Kerry GAA chiefs adamant they acted properly

KERRY GAA officials are adamant that they have acted, ‘properly and fairly’ in their decision not to suspend inter-county captain Darragh O´ Sé.

The Ghaeltacht midfielder, red carded in a county championship game against Austin Stacks eight days ago, will be free for selection as the Kingdom prepare to meet Cork in the All Ireland SFC semi-final after the referee admitted in his report that he made a mistake. The match official’s report states that O´ Sé was guilty only of committing a late tackle on Austin Stack’s Brian Dennehy and not of purposefully striking the player.

The chairman of the Kerry General Purposes Committee, Teddy O’Sullivan, said that the matter was blatantly clearcut, as a result of that assertion: “The referee's report made my job and the job of GPC easy. In discussing the incident with his officials at half-time in the match between Austin Stacks and An Ghaeltacht, he realised that he had made a mistake. We are acting on the referee’s report.”

A reconvened meeting of the GPC of Kerry County Board met on Saturday afternoon to discuss the incident which occurred in the tie played in Gallarus on Sunday night last. Clarification had been sought by the committee on a number of matters, according to O’Sullivan. That clarification was duly received from the match referee.

“Regarding the clarification, the referee did not say what the offence was in his report, so we sought clarification on that matter. O´ Sé was punished by the match official for a late tackle, which is not a sending-off offence and as a result not a suspension matter.”

Kerry County Board chairman Sean Walsh was relieved that the matter has been concluded rapidly and ‘fairly’.

“We are just happy that this has finally been put to bed and that Darragh will be playing in the All Ireland semi-final against Cork next weekend.

“Our GPC has acted fully within the rules of the Association and having studied the report of the referee, there was no charge in that report to warrant a suspension.

“As far as I am concerned we have done our business properly. I know that some people will make claims about the parish pump politics of the matter, but the officials acted properly and fairly in every regard. They acted strictly on the referee's report.”

Walsh said he had not seen the report of match referee Tommy McCarthy but hoped to do so later this week.

Cork manager Larry Tompkins, finalising his preparations for his third meeting with the Kerrymen in a championship year, said that he “was delighted to see him (O´ Sé) back. Hopefully both teams will be at full strength for the All Ireland semi-final on Sunday.”

GPC chairman O’Sullivan understood that there may be criticism of the process, given the circumstances and the timing, but he said that such criticism is unjustified.

“There will be that perception. But the referee's decision is final. He admits that he made a mistake.”