O'Connor slams media and disciplinary chiefs
July 31, 2010
Kerry manager Jack O'Connor
In an interview which was aired on TV3 last night, O'Connor wondered aloud if the CCCC were singling out Kerry players for particular attention. Key players Paul Galvin and Tomas O Se will sit out today's game after being hit with retrospective bans following incidents against Cork and Limerick respectively.
"It's ironic that two Kerry players are the main recipients of GAA justice this year when there are a lot of things going on in other games," the Kingdom boss said.
"I just hope the powers that be are looking at every game with the same microscope that they're looking at Kerry games."
O'Connor claimed that there were media commentators who wanted to see Kerry beaten because they had been too successful for too long and also alleged that Galvin was being targeted by opponents.
"When you're on the road as long as we are, a lot of people want to see the back of you for the simple reason that they want a new story. I mean what can be new about Kerry that hasn't been written? Some people are just waiting for our demise," he said.
Claiming that "a fair share of stuff was thrown at us over the years about being a cynical team and a dirty team", O'Connor pointed out that Tomas O Se had only been sent off once in the championship, while he also defended Galvin.
"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realise that Paul Galvin has been targeted. Maybe people realise he has a short fuse and work on that. But look, we've never used grievances to gel us," he said.
O'Connor was also unhappy with the media coverage Kerry received last year.
"A lot of people had written bad stuff about us - they told lies about us. Fairly noted commentators on the national airwaves were saying teams wouldn't play for me because of what I said in the book (his autobiography in 2007).
"That was hurtful at the time but it couldn't be further from the truth," he said. Tweet
