Eamonn Fitzmaurice says pundits to blame for Kerry’s cynical stigma

Eamonn Fitzmaurice has blamed pundits for attempting to paint Kerry as a cynical team.

Ahead of this Sunday’s Munster final, the Kerry manager expanded on his comments made before the quarter-final against Tipperary when he said: “Maybe there was a campaign there for a while to say that we were cynical, but that’s up to us to ensure that when we are tackling that we’re disciplined and that we’re not getting on the wrong side of the referee.”

Fitzmaurice explained he had no issue with Kieran McGeeney’s claims that Kerry and Dublin were more physical than Donegal: “There’s no managers (involved). I don’t think there are any managers. It’s pundits more so than anything else. I think that was him just being honest (McGeeney). I think that was him trying to pull Donegal’s tail more than saying anything about Kerry or Mayo.”

Fitzmaurice didn’t mention Joe Brolly by name but the Derry man has regularly referred to Kerry as a team that are experts in the dark arts, describing them as “the most cynical team in the game”.

Last year’s Donegal selector Damien Diver also said they were “very cynical” in the 2014 All-Ireland final.

Kerry had the worst defensive record (9-90) in this year’s Division 1 round stages. Fitzmaurice says that indicates his side are anything but a cynical outfit.“Look, there is a perception out there maybe that we were pushing boundaries. I don’t think we are. We wouldn’t have conceded the biggest score in the league (Division 1) if that was the case.

“It’s not something I’m losing sleep over; it comes with the territory of being All-Ireland champions. Last year, we were under the radar. Dublin last year were the team being picked on for different reasons.

“There are some very good referees out there, they know the story. They’re refereeing all of the big games in the National League, they’re watching the games on TV, they do their own coaching conferences and video analysis the way we do video analysis.

“They know what’s going on, they know what teams are at what. I’m sure if we are doing things outside the rules or if we are pushing the boundaries too far we’ll be found out. We had no red card in the league, like.”