Kerry manager Jack O’Connor and the Kingdom’s county board officials could be facing an Association ban following O’Connor’s admission that he received payments from the county board last season – to make up for financial losses during Kerry’s campaign.
If the GAA finds that the rules of amateurism have been broken, the group could be punished with a sixth month ban or total expulsion from the association.
It was in his new book that O’Connor revealed the contentious information on his payments as Kerry manager. He outlined to readers that he worked as a teacher in the mornings and as a football manager in the evenings; a job which the Kerry County Board reimbursed him for.
The Kingdom’s county board has immediately jumped to the offensive stating that such a deal quite simply never took place.
The county board did admit that O’Connor was rewarded with a family holiday after the county’s Sam Maguire triumph.
Kerry chairman Sean Walsh said: ‘There was no question of paying for a sub teacher or anything like that. Everything was totally above board. I accept that the way it appears in the book might give the impression that we paid him directly for missing time from teaching, but there was never any question of the Kerry county board breaking the GAA’s rules on amateurism.’
A Croke Park official acknowledged that an investigation would have to be undertaken to determine if any rules have been broken.
