O’Connor: ‘we’re not welcome’
KERRY senior hurling manager Fintan O’Connor has hit out at the discrepancy which will see the Kingdom locked out of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship for the foreseeable future.
A Leinster Council motion, which saw the Leinster championship extended to six teams, will mean there’s no relegation from the Leinster championship this year and the winner of the Joe McDonagh Cup promoted – as long as the winner is not from Munster.
The Joe McDonagh Cup will also be extended to six teams from 2021 meaning there will be no relegation this season.
“We’re definitely not welcome [in Leinster] by the sounds of it,” O’Connor told The Kerryman after Kerry’s defeat by Antrim last weekend.
“Like again how you can have a motion that says ‘if Kerry win it’s different lads’, it sounds ridiculous. Now look I have no problem with there being six teams in Leinster at all now and I’ve no problem with there being six teams in the Joe McDonagh. I think it’s great. I’d be 100% supporting the motion, I just can’t understand how the motion has to have a bracket ‘if Kerry win it’s different lads’.
“I can’t understand how it’s not the same for Kerry as it is for Antrim and I’m picking Antrim not because we’re playing them today, but because they’re from a different province same as we are and I know there’s not a functioning championship in Ulster and there is in Munster and I understand the arguments of it, but I cannot understand how it can be actually ‘lads you know we’ll pass a motion, but if Kerry win it’s different’.
“Everyone says it’s about promoting the games in different counties and promoting the games, but it seems like it’s alright to promote the games everywhere bar where it might... we’re definitely not helping Kerry anyway that seems to be the way it is.”
The Kerry senior hurlers, meanwhile, will learn their fate this Sunday afternoon. Should Antrim win the back game with Offaly – fixed for Tullamore – the Kingdom will have qualified for the Division 2A final. However, should Offaly win (and that would appear the most likely outcome) Kerry will miss out on score difference.