Corkery takes referee to task

COLIN CORKERY has lambasted referee Brian White and his officials for failing to punish what he described as “unsavoury tactics” by Kerry players in Cork’s All-Ireland semi-final loss to the Kingdom at Croke Park on Sunday.

“Firstly, I want to say that I have no complaints with the result,” the full forward said yesterday.

“We were beaten by a far better team on the day, but the unsavoury tactics of a number of the Kerry defenders left a lot to be desired,” he said.

“On several occasions, I asked the referee to consult with his umpires about the tactics that were being used by some of the Kerry defenders, tactics like a nudge in the back when you go for a ball, like holding you back by the jersey, and their refusal to give the ball back when we were awarded frees.

“After saying to me he would consult with his umpires, he never did.”

Corkery was also critical of the referee’s decision to send off himself and Fionan Murray.

“With reference to the sending off of Fionan Murray, I feel he was very hard done by. Fionan’s only offence was to shoulder Tom O’Sullivan in the back as he went to get the ball back for a free-in for us, but O’Sullivan lashed out with both fists. Surely a push in the back and striking with your fists cannot be punished in the same manner with a red card. O’Sullivan’s offence was far more serious in my view.”

When discussing his own case, he admitted that kicking the ball in the direction of the match referee probably looked worse than it was.

“In my own case, and looking at it the cold light of day, I should have rolled the ball back to the referee, but there was no malice intended when I kicked it back. I had no intention of hitting the referee with it, and in fact, the ball went a couple of yards past him. It was done in pure frustration on my part and I regret that.”

Corkery said much of his frustration stemmed from his disallowed goal moments earlier, as his quickly-taken free was called back by White.

“We needed a break to get back into the game after a disastrous start, but we got none from the referee. Take the goal that was disallowed, for instance. Under the rules, a player is entitled to take a quick free, and while I may not have been the required distance out from goal, Mikey Sheehy wasn’t exactly on the right spot when he scored that famous goal against Dublin’s Paddy Cullen all those years ago.”

Corkery has called on the County Board to set up development squads from under-16 to under-21 age groups to ensure a flow of players capable of competing at senior inter-county level.

“When you consider that Cork hasn’t won an under-21 All-Ireland since 1994, it explains somewhat our failure at senior level. Kerry had a development senior squad in operation for the past couple of years under John O’Keeffe and Mickey “Ned” O’Sullivan, and it helped them enormously. “Cork won the minor All-Ireland two years ago, but not one member of that team could make it on to Sunday’s senior team. Kerry, on the other hand, haven’t won a minor title in a couple of years, yet they can unearth a talent like Colm Cooper, who is only just out of the minor grade.

“It will cost money to do this, but it shouldn’t be spared. We are years behind other counties in this regard, and the sooner Cork move in this direction the better.”