Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice has come out swinging against Sport Ireland after it emerged a fortnight ago that Brendan O'Sullivan had failed a drugs test in 2016.
In an interview with Tony Leen, Fitzmaurice rejected the notion that Kerry had something to hide in light of their decision not to publicise the matter until The Irish Independent broke the story two weeks ago.
Fitzmaurice explained that Kerry's silence was based on legal advice they had received on the matter while Sport Ireland were preparing their full report on O'Sullivan's case.
The 2014 All-Ireland winner told The Examiner:
It's been a tough 14 months, Kerry has had to keep its powder dry until the full Sport Ireland report was issued. That was the legal advice we were given all along.
There's been some commentary to the effect that we've been trying to hide something - in fact it's the opposite.We felt it was important that we could have issued a full statement prior to it breaking in the public domain. Our hand was forced because of the report being leaked.
Fitzmaurice is - to put it lightly - disappointed that the report found its way to the Independent before it was officially completed by Sport Ireland, and before Kerry had an opportunity to comment on the completed findings of the report.
He also revealed that when O'Sullivan was informed of his failed test, he was initially told he would be banned from Gaelic football for for years. Ultimately, O'Sullivan served only a seven-month suspension with Sport Ireland satisfied that he had tested positive for a banned substance after consuming a contaminated product.
That's a huge question. The how, why and who leaked it to the Sunday Independent. Who leaked that report when it wasn’t finished?
We had a statement ready to go on this since last July, but it couldn't be released until the process was fully complete.
Brendan was notified last May 12 at 10am, 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.
Fitzmaurice also shed some light on how events unfolded with regards to the contaminated product itself, explaining that O'Sullivan had taken it upon himself to consume a product as a substitute for the Kerry squad's approved caffeine gel, of which he didn't like the taste.
It was clear straight away what the contaminated product was because everything else he would have taken would have been through the Kerry set up.
He didn't like the taste of the caffeine gel, he went and bought something off his own bat and it was contaminated.
You can read Fitzmaurice's full interview with Tony Leen in The Irish Examiner.
