Kingdom manager wants his staff back

Have another look at the new rule restricting the number of people allowed on the sideline, that was the plea from Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice in advance of his team’s McGrath Cup quarter-final meeting with UCC in Killarney.

“I don’t think there was any problem with the way the inter-county set-up was, the numbers on the sideline were limited but the management could be on the sideline together. The way it is now, it’s just not going to work. The last day [win against IT Tralee], Diarmuid and Mikey [Murphy and Sheehy, selectors] were in the stand, myself and Cian [O’Neill, trainer, wore the Maor Foirne’s bib] were on the sideline; in terms of communicating with each other it wasn’t ideal.

“I know there might be an argument where you could be wired up but I think communication can be a lot more subtle than that, in terms of body language. If you make a proposal to the other selectors and are greeted by silence, you’d know it probably wasn’t such a good idea!”