Livid Ryan brands Limerick board a ‘laughing stock’

FORMER county senior hurling team manager Tom Ryan has launched a fierce attack on Limerick’s county board following last week’s vote which retained the services of boss Justin McCarthy.

Ryan insisted that Limerick are now a “laughing stock” as the Shannonsiders prepare for the 2010 campaign without their big name stars. Ryan also warned that Limerick GAA is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of emerging young sportsmen to Munster rugby as the county board lurches “from one crisis to another.”

Ryan also insisted that McCarthy should have walked away from the job when last year’s panel members made it clear that they will not be hurling for the Cork native in 2010.

Ryan said: “No other county has the ongoing problems that Limerick has. The county board has walked from one disaster into another. We’re a laughing stock at this stage and we’re losing supporters. On Sunday, we had the replay of the U21 A hurling championship played in the snow and that’s a damning indictment of the management situation when you have games being played on December 20.”

Ryan believes that McCarthy’s role in the crisis has been a “shambles” and insisted that the manager must be held accountable for this year’s championship displays. Limerick lost out to Waterford in the Munster championship and although they bounced back to reach the All-Ireland semi-finals, Tipperary inflicted a heavy defeat on the Shannonsiders in that clash.

Ryan said: “We were told that McCarthy was a wonderful coach, a premier coach, but we can only judge the standards that we see in front of us. There’s dissent and problems in the camp.

“Justin McCarthy hasn’t been able to manage the situation, his management style hasn’t worked and he hasn’t communicated with the players. The players have been talking to me; I’d be very friendly with some of them and meet them at league and championship matches. I congratulated one particular young fella on how he played in a match and told him to keep his head and not too move around too much. He showed great heart and spirit but he said to me; ‘Tom, I was never told any of this. He (McCarthy) has never spoken to me since he arrived.’

“No other manager would have survived here in Limerick after what happened against Tipperary. There’s an elephant in the room here and I wonder who’s really calling the shots. The county board are in dread of their life to move him and McCarthy won’t move. Why won’t he go? He’s doing immense damage to Limerick hurling.”

Ryan added: “Everything here in Limerick is geared towards the Munster rugby team now, in city and county.

“Bruff, Abbeyfeale, Newcastlewest and all of these places are developing rugby teams because they can see a huge void to be filled with the county board stuttering from one crisis to another.”