Reale quits Limerick in protest at player cull

FORMER Limerick hurling captain Damien Reale last night confirmed his decision to quit intercounty hurling claiming he had “to stand up for what I felt was right”.

Reale’s shock decision follows the decision of manager Justin McCarthy to cut 12 players from his 2010 squad including high-profile names as Andrew O’Shaughnessy, Niall Moran, Stephen Lucey, Mike O’Brien, Donie Ryan and Mark O’Riordan, all of whom played championship this season.

Reale has slammed the failure of management to address the problems which dogged their 2009 season and has also criticised the manner in which the axed players were accused of lacking commitment. The 28-year-old admitted it was “the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make”.

He revealed: “Last Wednesday, there was a meeting between the 19 remaining players on the panel, Justin and his management team, and the county board, represented by chairman Liam Linehan and secretary Mike O’Riordan. Justin was talking for an hour and ten minutes, but there was no mention of the problems we’d had all year, just talk of moving forward. Everything was swept under the carpet.

“And I was sitting there thinking – ‘Surely, to move forward, you have to rectify the problems of the past?’

“I don’t want to criticise Justin, or his methods, but we got a wake-up call against Cork in a challenge match in Castletownroche and got another one shortly afterwards against a second-string Tipperary team in Lattin. After that, I thought – a lot of the lads thought – ‘we need to seriously up the intensity at training here’. It never happened. We went into the qualifiers against Wexford, and that game was going to be the be-all and end-all. The players had a meeting, unknown to management, and we said ‘this was it, we would go to Wexford and come hell or high water, get that win’. We won in terrible conditions, and I think that meeting had galvanised us. But afterwards Justin canned all player meetings, said there was too much talk, too many players talking.

“After the All-Ireland semi-final (defeat to Tipperary), reporters in the local media were asking for answers, said the Limerick public deserved that at least – I agree totally with that.

“The players aren’t exempt from criticism, we took the field on the day, but this is all supposed to be part of the package, and management have to shoulder some of the blame too but that wasn’t happening.”

Reale revealed: “After Justin had finished talking the floor was thrown open for questions, and I stood up.

“‘Justin,’ I said: ‘Why didn’t the lads who were being cut get even a phonecall to explain what was happening? I think it was very unfair what happened to them, the way they were treated,’ I told him.”

“And he said to me – ‘Damien, did you ever hear the phrase, you’re not your brother’s keeper?’.

“Well, if I’m not, I thought, then I’m no good to any team, nor to any management. I’ve led these fellas around the field, captained them, and I’m proud to have done that. They were my team-mates, and it was wrong to see them treated like this, it was wrong to see that old complaint about fellas acting the maggot brought up again. I can categorically state, everyone did everything that was asked of them this year – I can even quote Justin himself, he told us over and over again that we were the best team to train he had ever come across. I know the effort those lads put in, every year.”

The Hospital-Herbertstown clubman recalled: “For the last six or seven years I’ve driven Mike O’Brien and Donie Ryan to training, every night, and know the sacrifices they made. They’re two farmers, Mike on his own, Donie doing a full-time job as well, and often I’d be driving into Limerick with one of them asleep in the front seat beside me, the other fella asleep in the back – and this was going to training! I know the pressure they were under, cows to be milked before they got on the road and still they’d go in and give it everything.

“Andrew O’Shaughnessy is an army officer, a professional all his life; Niall Moran would be afraid to eat a sausage in case it upset his regime. Then you have Mark and Stephen, dual players, well over 100 sessions each done this year between the footballers and hurlers – how can any of those fellas be accused of lacking commitment, of being distracted? Stephen Lucey especially gets a bad rap. He’s outspoken, but that’s his nature, he likes to have an open relationship between players and management. He gives his point of view, and management won’t always agree but he’s only saying what the rest of the team is saying in private, and he’s only saying it to better the situation.

“He’s an intelligent, educated individual, deadly serious about his training; he’s a massive character in the dressing-room, and fellas look up to him. All he wants is for Limerick to do well, all any of us wants is that, but to see them treated like this…

“The question I asked myself was could I give 100% to a management team that had treated people like this? After nine years with Limerick this is the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. I’m still only 28 and I’m so proud to have worn that jersey , but I feel I have to stand up for what I felt was right. I’m not trying to dictate anything to anyone, Justin is entitled to pick any panel he likes, and new blood is good, but I do have a problem with the fact that there has been no inquest into what went wrong – there was no decency in it.”