Kerry players slam board chiefs over Ó Sé treatment

A NUMBER of senior Kerry footballers publicly threw their weight behind ousted coach Páidí O Sé last night, with a statement criticising the manner in which he has been treated by top county board officials.

Midfielder Darragh Ó Sé issued a statement on behalf of eight senior members of the Kerry panel expressing “their disapproval of and disappointment with” the treatment of

Ó Sé by the executive of the Kerry County Board, given his long-standing service to football in the county, both as a player and as a manager.

The other co-signatories to the statment are this year’s captain, Mike McCarthy, Tomas O Sé, Dara O Cinnéide, Seamus Moynihan, Eamonn Fitzmaurice, Declan O’Keeffe and Liam Hassett.

Younger members of the panel were not consulted on the basis that it would place unnecessary pressure on them and, some felt could jeopardise their future prospects with the county.

The statement added that those contacted to date had expressed “their unanimous support” for the move and insisted that the intervention should not be interpreted as an attempt to interfere with the process of appointing a Kerry manager, “whether that be Páidí Ó Sé or anybody else”.

Meanwhile, Kerry GAA chairman Sean Walsh may still press ahead with attempts to have face to face discussions with Ó Sé this week, despite the executive’s stated aim to look elsewhere for a new manager next season.

County board top brass were remaining tight-lipped last night in the wake of the players’ statement, but are expecting a stormy board meeting when the nomination for coach is presented to delegates in the next few weeks, unless Ó Sé announces beforehand that he is withdrawing his name from consideration.

Under 21 coach Jack O’Connor remains a clear frontrunner, with speculation that Laois boss Mick O’Dwyer has been approached to return to his native county emphatically dismissed. Limerick football boss Liam Kearns has also ruled himself out of the race to succeed Ó Sé.

“I expect to be Limerick’s manager next year, that’s the bottom line. Nothing is finalised yet, but I’m hopeful that discussions will soon come to a fruitful ending.

“It looks like I will be staying, but there’s a couple of details to be ironed out.

“You can safely rule me out of the running for the Kerry job.”

It is believed that Jack O’Connor would have returned as a selector had Ó Sé been given a new term.

If the Dromid man takes over as coach, the likes of ex-Kerry stars Ger O’Keeffe and Johnny Culloty may be considered as part of a new selection team.

Former Kerry star Jack O’Shea, claimed yesterday that, given his record, Paidi Ó Sé should, at least, have been given the opportunity to run again and let other candidates challenge him if they felt so inclined.

“He said a few weeks ago that he’d do whatever was best for Kerry football, and if that meant standing down, he would,” O’Shea wrote in the Sunday Times.

“It looks like Páidí will have to go now, but it’s a terrible way to bow out.

“Over the past few years, his teams have suffered terrible defeats in Croke Park, but it wasn’t entirely his fault on any of those occasions.

People outside Kerry think there’s a huge well of talent to choose from in the Kingdom, but that’s not the case,” he added.