Sean Walsh: denies intimidating referee after Ó Sé dismissal.
Walsh admitted yesterday to approaching match official, Tom McCarthy, at half-time and exchanging words on the matter, but he claims he merely said: “that it was unfortunate that it was not a yellow card.”
Mr Walsh denies that he told the ref “that he should have yellow-carded the player and asked for him to be taken off,” as was claimed yesterday. However, he accepted that such behaviour was inappropriate given the circumstances and his position as chairman of the county board.
“Yes I am disappointed. In hindsight, I regret saying what I said. But then when you are so close to a team, as I am, a little bit of frustration is going to creep in.”
He stressed that the investigation into the matter which led to the dismissal of the Kerry captain in the game against Austin Stacks will be thorough and complete. He said that the referee and his officials, will receive his full support in the matter, whatever the outcome. “I back him fully. I back the referee’s decision and everything that is in the referee's report. I have absolutely no criticism of Tom McCarthy. I have not spoken to him or any of the umpires since, but I will assure him of my full support on the matter.”
“It has been a difficult time, the most difficult since I was appointed chairman of the board,” Walsh admitted. “It is all very unfortunate, coming as it does, at this time of year, especially after the personal tragedy of the player involved.
“Darragh is obviously very, very upset as are the squad. They were back at training on Tuesday night and their focus is totally and completely on the All Ireland semi-final meeting with Cork at Croke Park. Obviously, this is not the situation which we would have preferred, but we simply have to deal with it. We have to be seen to act in the appropriate manner in our dealing with this issue.”
The GPC, of the Kerry County Board, are set to meet with Ó Sé, the referee and umpires in Tralee tonight to discuss the issue. One of the match officials has claimed he received a number of threatening telephone calls since Sunday night.
Meanwhile former Kerry footballer Tadhg Kennelly, now playing Australian Rules with the Sydney Swans, has won the National AFL Rising Star Nomination for round 19 of the League.
Kennelly, son of All-Ireland winning captain Tim, achieved the nomination after his performance on Saturday night against the Kangaroos.
Kennelly enjoyed his night’s work: “It was superb wasn’t it? We were really up for it and we seem to have it over them at the moment.
“I guess over the last four of five years there’s been a bit of history between the clubs stretching back to the ’96 Grand Final, a bit of hate there,” he said with a laugh.
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