"His decision making on the sideline was never very good"
August 06, 2018
Eamonn Fitzmaurice during his time as Kerry manager.
©INPHO/James Crombie.
Pat Spillane believes Eamonn Fitzmaurice was "too conservative and too loyal" during his tenure as Kerry senior football manager.
Fitzmaurice announced his resignation last Saturday night following the Kingdom's 12-point win over Kildare, which wasn't enough to see them into the All-Ireland semi-finals after Monaghan's victory over Galway.
Speaking on The Sunday Game yesterday, Spillane was critical of the Munster champions' out-going supremo.
"His decision making on the sideline was never very good. Number two, he was probably too conservative and too loyal," the eight-time All-Ireland winner stated.
"Rebuilding should have taken place two years ago, not this year, even though his legacy will be seven youngsters. Fitzmaurice in the last couple of matches in particular didn't seem to have a plan. You see Malachy O'Rourke with a system, Jim Gavin has a system, Mickey Harte has a system in play.
"Kerry came through Munster in swashbuckling style, front-foot kicking. What happened? They panicked, over-analysed the Galway match and went with a sweeper with no preparation.
"Then they went to the Monaghan game and the sweeper was abandoned. They went with a running game that ran into the blanket (defence).
"Against Kildare it was Kieran Donaghy at the edge of the square and route one. We never worked on a kick-out strategy or a defensive system."
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