Paul Geaney says there was “no malice” in the mass brawl that erupted during Sunday’s Kerry SFC semi-final replay.

County attacker Geaney netted a hat-trick as Dingle got the better of East Kerry at the second attempt in Tralee to advance to a final meeting with Dr Crokes but the match hit the headlines for the violent scenes involving players and mentors that broke out early in the second half.

“When there is adrenaline pumping and there are the physical stakes, it is possible to happen. The stakes are high. There was a county final on the line. It happens. Is it excusable? Probably not,” the ace attacker told Radio Kerry afterwards.

“You are looking at your teammates and if they are in trouble, you are going to help them out. There was no malice in any of them. It was two teams trying to stamp their authority on the game. It just flares up sometimes.

“Maybe, they do have to look at a second referee to stamp authority because there were two incidents, the same incident really, and when a referee is trying to deal with it on one side, then something else flared up. It is very difficult.”

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