'Spicy' Killarney atmosphere was something new for Morley
Tadhg Morley on Kerry v Donegal: “I don't know have I been at a game in Fitzgerald Stadium where the actual Kerry crowd were so invested in the game." Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Eleven days afterwards and it’s still being spoken about. But this is the first chance to speak to a Kerry player about the half-time fracas in the game against Donegal in Killarney.
“Testosterone was high,” is Tadhg Morley’s succinct assessment of the clashes between figures from each camp including Micheál Burns’ striking of Ryan McHugh.
Morley fully accepts referee Seán Hurson was correct to send off his team-mate but wonders about how he came to the conclusion and whether he and his team of match officials reviewed footage at half-time.
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“I don't think he was there at that part of the incident, unless his linesman or someone saw it, but even that, I'm not actually sure. Are they allowed to do that (check replays)? Are they able to do that? I don't really know. But look, in fairness, I'm sure he made the right call.
“Seán is probably the best ref in the country, you trust him and his officials. In fairness, he's very good at talking to the players on the pitch, and he's probably one of the better refs I've come across over the years.”
Morley thinks back to the 2023 All-Ireland semi-final win over Derry when David Clifford attempted to use a replay on the big screens in Croke Park to persuade referee David Coldrick that a fair challenge had been made.
“Cliffey was involved in a shoulder down by the Canal End, and I actually remember Cliffey actually pointing to the replay, trying to tell, ‘It wasn't that bad, look at the replay'.”
Morley was glad that there were no retrospective suspensions handed out for the simple point that it would have distracted the teams.
“You don't want those incidents to be going on really, but I think just trying to get it sorted on the day is probably the best option really, isn't it?
“You'd rather it didn't carry on for weeks at a time and for players as well that they at least they know there and then that day it's been sorted out and they're not thinking about it for a few days afterwards.”
Morley had a running battle with Michael Murphy but insists none of it had to do with what happened in the Division 1 final when Donegal won and Murphy avoided a red card for striking Dylan Casey.
“The league final was the league final. We didn't really home in on Michael Murphy or anything like that, really. We were kind of more just focusing on ourselves. Donegal were coming down to Killarney.
“We didn't want them to be, what would you say, kind of physically dominating us or anything like that, so we were kind of well up for the game, really.”
The Templenoe man is in his 11th senior season with Kerry but never experienced an atmosphere like the game in Killarney. “I don't know have I been at a game in Fitzgerald Stadium where the actual Kerry crowd were so invested in the game.
“Between the Kerry supporters and Donegal supporters, it was even getting tense. It was getting spicy that way, as it was on the field. But no, I think the Kerry supporters are really backing us at the moment since the middle of last year. Well, they always have, but they really got on board last year.”
Kerry only learned their second-round fate on Tuesday when they were drawn away to Kildare, but Morley was glad of the extended break as Kerry nurse players back to fitness.
“Sometimes when you lose a game, you want to play a game straight away after, but probably in our scenario, with a few injuries, the three weeks was great.
“You don't get a period of time to concentrate on yourselves a little bit. So even this week now was great, where we didn't actually know who we were going to play next.”
Morley has been following Westmeath’s fortunes closely as his wife Ciara is from Kinnegad and they attended their extra-time Leinster final win over Dublin last month. His cousin Brian was on their 2004 Leinster-winning team.
“We had the five o'clock train booked, so extra-time came in, we were like, 'Oh, what are we going to do here?’ And then we were like, we'll go at half-time at extra time, and then Ciara was like, 'We should go now.' And I was like, ‘You can't miss this. Like, if something happens here, like if you win.'
“So we stayed for the whole extra-time, watched the last second of it. I have a good video on my phone now. We watched the last second of it, kind of on the steps up. They got the goal, and the hooter went off, Ciara was crying and the whole lot, and then just kind of got out of there, then really kind of took a speedy enough walk.
“Ciara is pregnant, so we were careful enough, we weren't sprinting down O'Connell Street. Found a taxi then, got down to Heuston about 4.45pm, so it wasn't too bad.”
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