As he announced the end of his six-year tenure in charge of Kerry on Saturday evening, Eamonn Fitzmaurice publicly revealed that he had been a repeated target of 'hate mail' within his own county. For Tomás Ó Sé, such behaviour is evidence of a 'poisonous' attitude within Kerry.
Speaking on the Independent's 'The Throw-In' podcast, Ó Sé is adamant that "over 95% of [fans] have their heart in the right place." Yet, some "eejits" remain determined to have their voice heard.
Not remotely surprised that Fitzmaurice had had to deal with such unwanted correspondences, Ó Sé recalled an unhappy memory from his first day in a Kerry shirt. Against Cork in 1998, even a Kerry win didn't halt one 'fan' making his thoughts on the young corner-back's performance perfectly clear:
I remember you walk out of the stadium down to the middle of the town after, and I got abused after by a fella not too far away from me, and he abused me for a good twenty, thirty seconds as I was walking down the street, and that's what you're putting up with.
Famously, Ó Sé's uncle Páidí got into hot water with the Kerry public when he outlined the ferocity that certain sections of the fan-base possessed.
With relation to the criticism Fitzmaurice had to contend with, however, Ó Sé believes there is something particularly pernicious about it. Furthermore, he claims to know that Fitzmaurice is far from the only one receiving the sort of 'hate mail' he referenced in his parting remarks:
You have a platform now where every eejit has a voice and they can spit poison on social media.
They can personally attack somebody. I know for a fact that players were getting letters and selectors were getting letters as well as Eamonn Fitzmaurice.
It is poisonous.
Although he concedes that he would reserve the right to criticise some of the footballing decisions Fitzmaurice made throughout his tenure, Ó Sé stance on these personal attacks is one of zero tolerance.
