Paul Murphy: WhatsApp rumours after defeat to Cork were 'pure fiction'

Paul Murphy: Maybe we weren’t set up in best way against Cork. Picture: Inpho/Laszlo Geczo

New Kerry football captain Paul Murphy has said WhatsApp messages of “pure fiction”, such as those alleging mutiny in the Kerry camp following last November’s Munster semi-final defeat to Cork, are unfortunately part of modern life.

In the wake of the county’s championship exit, a WhatsApp message suggesting Kerry players were on the brink of a heave against manager Peter Keane was widely circulated.

Murphy described the social media rumours of a player heave as “disappointing” and said the Kerry panel members named in the message endured a “tough few days”.

“There was a message that went sort of WhatsApp viral, and the only piece of truth in the message was that we had a meeting. The rest of it was just an act of pure fiction,” said the newly appointed Kingdom captain.

“We had a meeting at the end of the year, a review that we do at the end of every season, and we do it during the season, as well.

“It was disappointing to see rumours like that surfacing.

It spread like wildfire, and the guys who were mentioned in those messages, they’d a tough few days. The phones were hopping. But look, I think it’s part of modern life, unfortunately.

“As a group, we came out of that meeting knowing that we were all pulling in the one direction – players backing management, management backing players.”

In his address at December’s Kerry GAA convention, county board chairman Tim Murphy said a “hugely disappointing and concerning area” for the GAA and society as a whole is the rollout of fake news and untrue information presented in its many formats.

Modern life, shrugs his namesake once again.

“If you go on Twitter, there’s a pile-on on somebody else every week. It just so happened that, that given week, it was us and it was on WhatsApp maybe more than Twitter," the captain continued.

“Without getting too deep about it, it’s the way of the modern world at the moment. It’s just something you just deny. But, you know, some people probably will believe those rumours until their dying day. And there’s nothing you can do about that.

“As I said, we’re very happy with the set-up we have in terms of management of the backroom. We’re looking forward to getting back at it. Hopefully, there’ll be some more positive rumours and positive stories about us.”

Reflecting on the fixture which sparked rumours of player unrest and, in particular, Kerry’s defence-heavy approach at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the 29-year-old versatile defender remarked that “maybe we weren't set up in the best way”.

“You set up the way you think you'll be best served to win a game. We lost the game, so maybe we weren't set up in the best way. I know there was talk that we had Brian Ó Beaglaoich as a wing-forward, but I think if you asked fans what has been their best day out watching Kerry over the last couple of years, a lot of them would say the Mayo match in Killarney in 2019. We played with Gavin White at number 10 that day and it wasn't a defensive approach then.”