Limerick cousins of England captain Harry Kane disappointed at 'racist' supporters

THE second cousin of England soccer captain Harry Kane believes England should be basking in the glory of being European champions at this stage.

And he has described England fans who racially abused players and illegally forced entry to the stadium as “not genuine supporters”.

Pat ​Fitzgerald, who lives in Caherline, watched the Three Lions lose to Italy in the Wembley decider with his brother Joe, wife Mena and grandchildren.

“England should have won. They got a goal after two minutes and they laid back instead of going forward.

“I’d blame the manager Gareth Southgate for bringing the penalty takers on too late, they hadn’t warmed up,” said Pat.

It was during the 2018 World Cup when the Limerick Leader revealed Kane had deep family roots in county Limerick, with his grandmother Phylis born in Caherline.

Harry’s grandmother Theresa, along with her brothers and sisters moved to Britain at various stages during the depressed economic years of the 1950s.

She married Mike Kane, a native of Galway, one of whose sons is Harry’s father Patrick. Scores of Kane’s cousins still reside in Caherconlish – with local historian Pat Hourigan also able to claim a link to the top marksman.

As for Harry on the pitch, Pat believes he played well.

“He saw an awful lot of ball. Although he had no shots on goal [in regulation and extra time], at least he scored a penalty,” he said.

The Euro 2020 final was blighted by ugly scenes before and after the game with England supporters storming the entrances at Wembley, fighting among once another, and open drug taking.

On top of this, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, who is just 19, suffered vile online racial abuse after missing from the penalty spot.

Pat said: “They are not genuine supporters. These players don’t need this at all.

“Everyone is entitled to live, whatever colour you are, it makes no difference. It was not nice to see.”