O’Connor blasts GAA chiefs over Galvin treatment

KERRY manager Jack O’Connor has launched a stinging attack on GAA disciplinary chiefs for their treatment of Paul Galvin earlier this year.

While O’Connor accepted subsequent suspensions received by Galvin and Tomás O Sé for indiscretions in the championship were merited, he remains angered by the ban slapped on the Finuge star following the county’s NFL meeting with Cork in February.

“When you talk about this you are accused of sour grapes,” O’Connor said of the Kingdom’s disciplinary issues in 2010. “But the one that rankles with me big time is Paul Gavin’s suspension after the league game in Páirc Uí Rinn.

“We produced video evidence to prove Paul did nothing that night yet we got an outcome that was not satisfactory.”

He told Radio Kerry: “It’s the one that grates most on me because I feel that the man was wronged. I’m not condoning what he did up in Páirc Uí Chaoimh (when he clashed with Cork’s Eoin Cadogan) nor am I condoning what Tomás O Sé did against Limerick. They know they did wrong. But I believe the justice was selective.”

Meanwhile O’Connor has backed rivals Cork to claim All-Ireland honours on September 19. But he expects a stern test from Down, who defeated his side in the quarter-final last month.

“It’s a hard game to call because Cork have not hit the heights of last year. But this year I just don’t think they are the same team physically and they are not running with the same energy and freedom.

“I don’t know why that is, but if they put it together and hit form I think Cork will win. They have the experience of the final and you can’t buy that.”

He added: “Everything has fallen right for Down as they have come from nowhere but there will be pressure on them because of Down’s record of never losing an All-Ireland SFC final in Croke Park. It will be a huge task for James McCartan to insulate them from that type of pressure.”