Date set for McCarthy discussions

By Diarmuid O’Flynn

Friday, March 19, 2010

THE Limerick hurling crisis looks likely to come to a head shortly with the news that next Tuesday, March 23, is the date set for a special meeting of the Limerick county board at which the position of senior team manager Justin McCarthy will be the major topic for discussion.

The required ‘notice of motion’ from the minimum of five clubs was submitted yesterday (Adare, Ahane, Croom, Garryspillane and Patrickswell the five mentioned, though others are also said to have submitted motions), and – as promised in these pages last week by board chairman Liam Lenihan – the meeting is being held as soon as possible after the submission of that request.

A minimum of five days’ notice is required for a meeting and delegates have been informed it will go ahead next Tuesday.

There is one surprise, however; where it was expected the clubs would be tabling a straight vote of no-confidence in manager McCarthy, the motion submitted by the clubs actually takes a different route.

It calls for a rescinding of the decisions taken at the December, January and February meetings of the board concerning the Limerick senior hurling management, in other words a reversal of a) the vote of confidence in Justin McCarthy and his management team, taken last December, b) the appointment in January of John Touhy as selector, and c) the reappointment of Pat Creed, in February, as senior hurling liaison officer.

The decision last October by Justin McCarthy and his management team to cut 12 players from 2009 for the panel drawn up for the 2010 season sparked the crisis and threw Limerick hurling into turmoil.

That decision was accompanied by a major interview with McCarthy in a local newspaper in which it was suggested lack of discipline and lack of commitment was the reasoning behind the drastic surgery to the 2009 panel, suggestions aggravated what was an already volatile situation.

It led to 12 more players walking out in sympathy with those who were cut, with all 24 subsequently signing a statement vehemently denying those claims by their former manager.

Because it seeks to overturn motions already carried, the new motion will probably require a two-thirds majority, though – according to one delegate at least – the five clubs feel those previous motions were passed mainly on the basis of future promise, that many players would return to the 2010 panel, promise that turned out to be false.

One player, James O’Brien from the Bruree club, did in fact return, but a further statement by the remaining players last Sunday week left no-one in any doubt there would be no more breaking of ranks.

The county board management is already on record as giving McCarthy and his management its full backing.

Given the division that now exists within the clubs, the likelihood is that the motion will not win the necessary two-thirds majority.

However, even a simple majority would leave the current management in a very awkward position, especially if (as rumoured) nearly all the senior hurling clubs are either for the new motion, or will abstain on the night because of a possible split in the club between those who support the members of the 2010 panel and those who support those who were cut.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Friday, March 19, 2010