Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FITZ FEELS LEAK BEGS QUESTIONS
EAMONN FITZMAURICE has strongly defended Brendan O’sullivan and Kerry’s role in the doping controversy surrounding the player. O’sullivan tested positive for MHA after appearing as a sub in Kerry’s League final loss to Dublin in April 2016, but the matter only came to light recently through a leak to the media. It has since emerged that the player served a 21-week ban, split over two different periods, and was cleared of any intentional wrongdoing having taken a contaminated product. Kerry boss Fitzmaurice said: “We had a statement ready to go on this since last July. “I think there was a bit of commentary this week about why it wasn’t released earlier, ‘were we hiding something?’. “That’s the exact opposite. Our hand was forced because of the report being leaked. “I think that’s the huge question - why and how and who leaked it? “That’s a big question when you’re talking about a player and a human being. Brendan was notified last May 12 at 10am, he got a phone call ‘you failed a drugs test and by the way: you’re banned for four years’. “I didn’t read that anywhere this week. Sport Ireland rang him to inform him under WADA regulations, he was banned for four years.” Fitzmaurice was critical of how dragged out the whole process has been. “It was clear straight away that the problem was the contaminated product because everything else he would have taken would have come through the set-up. “It took us 11 weeks to prove it was contaminated. “Why everything takes so long in these things, I can’t understand.”