Mistakes made but no intent to cheat

Paul Brennan was at Monday’s press conference at which Eamonn Fitzmaurice went through the Brendan O’Sullivanb case in detail

EAMONN Fitzmaurice robustly defended Brendan O’Sullivan as the Kerry manager addressed Sport Ireland’s report in the player’s failed drugs test and the fall-out from the week-long saga relating to the Valentia club man.

Fitzmaurice stressed that O’Sullivan didn’t nothing intentionally wrong with regard to having a banned substance in his system after the 2016 National League Final against Kerry, but conceded that the player made mistakes, some of them serious. Fitzmaurice also explained the reason why the on-going investigation and appeals process was kept under wraps from the public, and even from the rest of the Kerry players.

“As the manager of the team, my first concern is the welfare of Brendan O’Sullivan and also the welfare of every player that’s inside with us,” the manager said at a very open and honest press conference in Tralee on Monday.

“But that product that Brendan took was not prescribed in any way by us. He went and got this because he didn’t like the taste of the caffeine gels. He bought the thing, this MHA was not listed on the ingredients. He researched every ingredient on line, so he couldn’t have done any more, except the final, crucial step, ask the doctor. “That was his mistake.

“We had no worries about the other players. When the (legal) advice was that it had to be kept under wraps until the process was finished, we couldn’t tell the other players. The circle just gets too big. As it was, the circle was tiny, that’s how it didn’t come out. That’s no reflection on the players in the squad, it’s just human nature. This thing was so sensitive. As the manager of the team, my first concern is towards the welfare of Brendan O’Sullivan and of every player that is with us — both on and off the pitch. That’s a big part of my job.

“The reasons we had no concerns is that the product Brendan used was not prescribed in any way by us. He went and got this because he didn’t like the taste of caffeine gels, and I would imagine - though he has never said this to me - it was because the type of person he is, he was thinking ‘this is is my first time on the Kerry panel and I’m not going to be a prima donna, going up and saying ‘I don’t like the taste of gel, can I get something else?’ That was his mistake.

“He rang me at half ten on the day he got the call (from Sport Ireland) and by the end of the conversation, I knew where the problem was, that he had bought something in a health shop in Cork. Thanks be to God we were able to nail it down so quickly, to the extent that it didn’t become a more serious thing — ie, an accusation of cheating.”

“Brendan was notified last May 12 at 10am when he got a phone call. ‘You failed a drug test, and by the way, you are banned for four years’. That call came from Sport Ireland, which said that under WADA regulations, he was now banned for four years. It took us 11 weeks to prove (the product) was contaminated after being sent to the labs for testing. Why everything takes so long in these things, I can’t understand.

“What was so annoying last week was there was so much shooting in the dark going on. Our plan all along was, I would be