A Dublin-based newspaper columnist has launched a blistering attack on Darragh Ó Sé after the former Kerry midfielder suggested that the best way to stop Diarmuid Connolly was through the use of provocation.

Admirers of the Dublin star are up in arms after Ó Sé stated that there was "something to be said for pulling his tail and seeing if he'll hiss back at you."

He added: "With a player as good as Connolly sometimes that's all you have left. A bit of don't-ask-don't-tell stuff off the ball."

The Kerryman's 'advice' has provoked an angry response from Eamon Carr, who writes in The Herald today: "It's not enough that Ó Sé regards Diarmuid Connolly as a 'beautifully balanced player', he's urging players to take him out.

"The former Kerry midfielder would like it to become the accepted canon that skilful Dublin players are neutralised, one way or another. So that in case Kerry meet Dublin, Jim Gavin's men will already be depleted or know they'll be subjected to cynical off-the-ball harassment.

"Thanks to Ó Sé's poisonous advice, Diarmuid Connolly might as well have a target painted on his back for every sniping bullyboy who's let loose in a county shirt.

"Referees and officials are on hand to deal with unsporting behaviour on the pitch. But surely HQ must consider how best to spank errant pot-stirrers like Ó Sé, whose weasel words make a mockery of fair play.

"You can't legislate for men talking in a pub where a language of excess is the domain of the drunk. But allowing a respected pundit a public platform to suggest targeting a player is not the kind of public image the GAA need. Especially when video footage of men in Waterford attacking each other with hurleys on a GAA pitch is going viral around the civilised world.

"This sort of appalling behaviour is only a knee in the coccyx or a dig in the kidneys away from the garbage Ó Sé vomits up as sporting commentary.

"It's possible that they'll love it in Kerry where a commodity called 'cuteness' is celebrated as a defining trait. But there's a slim line between this type of smart-arse behaviour and a sly thing called 'sleevenism'.

"He was a formidable footballer, but sadly, with his advice on how to shackle a player of notable ability, Ó Sé is becoming a caricature."

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