Coy on issue of influencing referee

The question hadn’t yet been asked when Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s face broke into a wide smile.

No, he hadn’t read Conor McCarthy’s Irish Examiner piece claiming Kerry attempt to influence referees during games.

But what of the charge that his team try and get match officials to see things their way? “I don’t think we do more or less than any other team,” he shrugged. “Since I’ve taken over, we try to be as disciplined as we can. I don’t think you see too many Kerry players going after the referee, roaring and shouting at them or anything.

“Maurice Deegan was refereeing this evening, he’s an experienced ref, he’s a top ref. The referees that are out there, they’re clever guys, they know the way it works. They’ve their own tight circle, they train, watch videos. They’re trying to improve themselves the whole time. We just try to respect the referee and do our job.”

Fitzmaurice may have been playing coy but at least one Kerry County Board official was aggrieved with former Cork footballer McCarthy’s opinion.