Kerry star Tadhg Kennelly has attempted to explain away the inflammatory comments attributed to him in an excerpt from his autobiography published in last week’s Sunday Independent.
The account revealed that he had set out to deliberately foul Cork midfielder Nicholas Murphy at the start of the All-Ireland final.
The former Sydney Swans player has since released a statement insisting his ghost writer had misconstrued his comments and that he ‘should never have allowed the piece regarding the incident with Nicholas to be described in the fashion it was.’
‘The controversy arising from the incident involving Nicholas Murphy in the All-Ireland final and an account of which was published in the Sunday Independent has devastated both me and my family,’ he said.
‘I have been publicly vilified and I want to tell the truth.
‘I admit I have made a mistake and a big one. I should never have allowed the piece regarding the incident with Nicholas to be described in the fashion it was.
‘I gave an interview to the Australian ghost writer Scotty Gallon just a couple of days after the All-Ireland. I didn’t read it over as I should have, and the first account I saw of the incident was on last Sunday morning.
‘Scotty used an expression ‘cop that’ to describe my feelings immediately after I connected with Nicholas. I said no such thing. I’m sure Nicholas can confirm that, and, yes, I did explain to him what happened after the match.
‘The Wednesday after the All-Ireland was a rush. We had a deadline to meet. Books don’t get formatted and printed overnight. I was on a high and the last thing I wanted was to talk to Scotty over the phone. Looking back on it, I should have read a proof of the finished chapter. I didn’t and I paid the price. My fault 100 per cent.
'I didn’t plan to tackle any particular Cork man, but I did intend to shoulder charge an opponent immediately the opportunity arose. Shoulder is the key word. On my solemn word, I did not and would never intentionally go out to hurt another footballer. The challenge, I admit, was over the top. I was too pumped up.
‘The words ‘while I hadn’t wanted to come in and seriously injure anyone I was determined to make a statement’ were not included in the extract from the book even though this sentence followed on. That one line would have clarified my intentions, but it was not included in the piece.
‘I cannot believe this happened. The piece was totally unbalanced due to the omission. At no stage did I know the extract was going in the paper. No one told me. I was stupid and naive but I did not deliberately go out to hurt Nicholas.’
