O’Keeffe defends Kingdom supporters

THE lack of Kerry supporters in Páirc Uí Chaoimh last Sunday afternoon did not go unnoticed in the visitors’ camp but selector Ger O’Keeffe has defended the Kingdom’s no-show fans.

Precise figures are impossible to ascertain but the disparity among the allegiances of the 26,486 supporters who attended the fixture on Leeside terraces two days ago was remarked upon in a number of quarters.

Niall Cahalane, for one, discussed the “shamefully small knot of supporters” who braved enemy territory for the Munster semi-final replay in his column in yesterday’s Irish Examiner ‘Championship 2010’ supplement.