'Any man with Kerry blood in his veins as long as he is willing to fight and die for the brother beside him'

Kerry hurling manager Stephen Molumphy plays down eligibility row

Limerick's Cathal O'Neill is tackled by Michael Leane of Kerry

Kerry hurling manager Stephen Molumphy has said he is not disappointed with Michael Duignan’s critical comments regarding three Limerick clubmen being included in the Kingdom panel for the 2022 season.

Molumphy, in response to Duignan’s remarks on these pages last week, said any hurler with Kerry blood in his veins and who is willing to fight for the green and gold cause is welcome in the Kingdom set-up.

In November, Kerry were granted a deviation in the special eligibility rule, which states only hurlers at Nicky Rackard or Lory Meagher Cup level can line out for the county of their parent(s) and retain their own club. This enabled three Limerick natives - Paudie Ahern of Killeedy and the Mungret pair of Louis Dee and Niall Mulcahy - to transfer their inter-county allegiances to Kerry, a switch Offaly County Board chairman Duignan is none too pleased with.

Duignan questioned what the transfer of three Limerick players does for the promotion of the game in Kerry, while also accusing Kerry of adopting a “short-term view”.

But when these comments were put to Molumphy following the county’s 4-29 to 0-11 Munster Hurling Cup semi-final defeat to Limerick, the new Kerry manager wasn’t at all incensed or put out by Duignan’s outburst. Indeed, when asked if he was disappointed with Duignan’s remarks, he replied, "no".

“Any man with Kerry blood in his veins or who plays with a Kerry club, as long as he is willing to fight and die for the brother beside him on the team, he is welcome on this team,” was Molumphy’s take on the matter.

The manager also stated that no Kerry-born panellist had an issue with the Limerick trio joining their ranks.

Even though Kerry were severely outclassed during a 30-point drubbing, Molumphy believes exposure to the All-Ireland champions will serve his charges well going forward.

“I wouldn't change a thing in terms of coming up here and playing the All-Ireland champions. These are the teams you want to be playing. For us, there is no better place to start or learn.

“We'll take a lot of learning points from today, but we'll take them and move forward. Tackling intensity is something we definitely took from today. The intensity they bring to the game is something we want to emulate and bring that standard to us.

“We played Tipperary, had a nice win, played LIT during the week, had a good win there too, but this is another step up and that's where you want to be.”

See match report page 9