Big Apple lacks bite after ticket fiasco
Manager Paddy Kearney, who was in charge for over a year, quit his post in September, claiming the County Board refused to provide him with tickets for the All-Ireland final.
His successor Fergus Daly had six days at the helm, before resigning after a row with officials. Seamus Smith, who has been involved with Donegal in recent seasons, is now in charge for the visit of the Tribesmen, but has had only four sessions with his new squad.
Kerry native Kearney, who was in charge for high-profile matches against Wicklow, Leitrim and Boston, yesterday launched a hard-hitting attack on board chiefs.
“I was manager before in 2003 but when I went looking for tickets for the All-Ireland final, I was told no,” he said.
“After that I swore I would not get involved. But then new rules were introduced and players and managers were sorted for tickets for the All-Ireland finals so I decided to come back.
“I never put in an expense bill, I didn’t ask for the price of gas or anything. But when it came to the All-Ireland final I felt I was more than entitled to get tickets for myself and my selectors, Pat Scanlon and Will Lowry.
“But when I went looking for them I was told I was not entitled to them and that there were people more entitled than me to get the tickets.
“Over the last couple of years every chairman has given the manager tickets but for some reason, I was turned down.
“It came up at a board meeting and in the end the chairman from the previous year, Seamus Dooley, gave me his own tickets so that I could go see Kerry and Tyrone.”
He revealed: “They (the board) had the gall to call me up a week later, wondering when I was going back to the county team, after I was refused tickets! It was a disgrace the way I was treated and the way the players were treated.
“You hear all this talk about what the players are entitled to, all the gear like track-suits, gloves and boots. All our players got was a bag, a pairs of sockets, a tee-shirt and a jersey.
“I brought this up with someone and was told that we never asked for them! I told the players to keep the head up and the poor turnout at training has nothing to do with Fergus and Seamus who are great football men.
“Can you imagine Pat O’Shea or Conor Counihan going to their county boards and being refused tickets for an All-Ireland final? Can you imagine what would happen then?”
Chairman John Riordan, ironically another Kerry native, last night said the dispute had developed due to a misunderstanding.
“Paddy called me looking for tickets and I told him that I did not have them then and there. He went beserk.
“But I told him he would not be left without a ticket. I said I was getting ten tickets myself because I am on Central Council and promised I would sort him out.
“I was refusing him tickets that I did not have but I wasn’t refusing to get him tickets.
“I discovered then that my predecessor Seamus was always able to get his hands on extra tickets for managers in the past. I did not know that. I was wrong on that front. I should have understood.
“In New York we got 100 tickets which went to umpires, referees and all those people helping out in the field. The footballers, because they competed in the championship, received 60 tickets — two for every member of the panel. The manager and selectors did not receive anything in that.
He continued: “After Paddy left, we appointed Fergus Daly from Tyrone who won the Junior A championship and a Senior B Championship. On the day of the final between Kerry and Down, he had words with the referee. As chairman I told him that his actions were not good enough for a New York manager.
“We asked him to come to meeting and apologise to the referee. But he called the next day and said he would not have anything to do with the team.
“So we then appointed Seamus Smith from Cavan, and asked him to pick his own selectors and put a team on the field. At the first panel meeting there were five or six players; at the second session we had ten or 11 and at the third session last weekend 13 or 14 showed up. But last night (Tuesday) we had 28 players in attendance.
“All is very smooth and going fine. We will put out a decent team and will fulfil our commitment. We are expecting a good crowd and are looking forward to a great day.”
Galway flew to the Big Apple this morning, but manager Liam Sammon has a depleted squad for the clash
Full-back Finian Hanley and star forward Michael Meehan will miss the trip as they are on the International Rules squad which departs for Australia on Saturday.
Matthew Clancy, Gareth Bradshaw, Paul Conroy and Sean Armstrong will not feature against the Exiles either, as they played for their respective college sides during the pre-season competition and are thus ineligible to play.
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