Limerick’s hurling crisis set to rumble on

THE Limerick hurling crisis looks set to drag on for another few weeks after last night’s meeting of the county board in Ballyagran decided that the club delegates of the players affected would meet with the county board at 8pm on Saturday, December 12, in Claughaun clubhouse.

The crisis was sparked off several weeks ago, when, in a panel drawn up to begin training for the 2010 season, 12 players were dropped, including the likes of Mark Foley, Andrew O’Shaughnessy, Niall Moran, Stephen Lucey, Donie Ryan and Mike O’Brien, players who had given years of service to Limerick and played in the championship this season.

The manner of their omission – team captain Mark Foley the only one to receive a call informing him of the fact that his services were no longer required – rankled with many, and over the past weeks nine more of the most experienced remaining players pulled out of the panel, leaving Justin McCarthy with only a fraction of the panel that began the 2009 season. Players were unhappy with the handling of the omission but also stated that they were unhappy with the methods and style of McCarthy and his management team, citing a lack of intensity at training sessions.

At the meeting last night, McCarthy and his selectors strongly defended those methods. “There was never a training session that was haphazard, or lackadaisical,” he stated, “Everyone was totally committed – there was no night when we didn’t have a good session.” Selector Brian Ryan was even more emphatic, spoke of a weekend away with the team in Killarney a few weeks before the All-Ireland semi-final against Tipperary, where every player, individually, was interviewed for 15 minutes. “The last question every one of them was asked, was – did he have any issues he wanted to bring up? Of the 29 players, only two said yes, and those were to do with travelling to Dublin on the night before the game against Tipperary. It was staggering then, months later, to hear they had all these problems.”

Limerick Chairman Liam Lenihan added his backing to the Justin and his team – “I went to three training sessions, and they were excellent.”

The management team were there to face the delegates, and then took questions from the floor, many of which dealt with Limerick’s huge defeat by Tipperary in the All-Ireland semi-final. The argument became very detailed, one delegate even questioning why Limerick played an extra man in defence in the first half of that defeat, to be told by Justin that this was in deference to the wishes of the players themselves – “I would prefer to have just 15 against 15.” The real question, however, was whether or not Limerick were prepared to endorse McCarthy’s leadership for another season, go ahead without the 21 players already sidelined, and eventually that issue was broached when the Adare delegate stood up and read out a statement in which he outlined his club’s support of the players, and proposed a motion of no confidence in the management team. Before that motion could be debated, however, the chairman ruled that they were still just in a question and answer session with the management team, and so, the questions continued.

In spite of Adare’s insistence their motion was tabled, it was decided an attempt would be made at mediation. “Does anyone here see parallels with other counties?” asked McCarthy, a clear reference to the Cork situation early this year – “I’m not going to jump ship. My record is as good as anyone’s – success doesn’t come overnight, and I’ve given a two-year commitment to Limerick. The door is always open, and of course we want those players back (who have walked away), but we have to make changes.”