MARC Ó SÉ says he had no idea Kerry team-mate Brendan O’Sullivan had failed a drugs test until the story broke over the weekend.
The Sunday Independent reported that an inter-county footballer had failed a routine drugs test and it subsequently emerged that it was Kingdom fringe player O’Sullivan after the Kerry County Board issued a statement.
O’Sullivan tested positive for stimulant methylhexaneamine (MHA) after the 2016 league final against Dublin and eventually served two suspensions totalling 21 weeks.
Sport Ireland claimed the Kerry player “bore no significant fault or negligence”, ruling that the violation was not intentional.
Speaking to Matt Cooper on Today FM’s The Last Word, Ó Sé, who also played in the 2016 defeat to the Dubs, claimed he was unaware of the disciplinary proceedings until Kerry released the statement.
“I had no idea that this was going on,” Ó Sé said yesterday evening.
“We had no idea that Brendan O’Sullivan had tested positive, the first I heard of it was this weekend.
“What I’m led to believe, the reason that this didn’t come out until now is that Brendan appealed the case and there were a few different appeals that went in and this only concluded recently.”
Ó Sé, who retired from inter-county football last October, went on to vouch for O’Sullivan’s character and also said he had not come across doping in the GAA.
“I haven’t come across it [doping] yet.
“Is Brendan guilty of something? He is. He’s guilty that he didn’t follow the rules and he wasn’t checking things up online and making sure he was adhering to the rules.
“I know Brendan O’Sullivan, he’s a good lad. He’d never get himself knowingly into trouble.
“All these players are taking supplements, he possibly took a supplement that maybe he shouldn’t have.
“He didn’t intentionally cheat and that’s very important. At the end of the day this fella is an amateur. The rule violation wasn’t intended so he didn’t go out knowingly to get an advantage.”
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Good luck to him and them. Michael Lowry shows lots of heart, Ulster not always. New chance tonight.
Massively unfair judging Lowry at 10 after one game. Doesn’t seem to be any latitude out there for a player stepping into a new position at this level. I’d like him to get a solid run at 10 then judge his ability.
Granted, expecting him to do a better job than he does at full back mightn’t be realistic, especially given that when he’s playing 10 whoever’s playing 15 isn’t Lowry.