Have any lessons been learned?

THIS TIME last year it was Gerald McCarthy and Cork, yesterday it was Justin McCarthy and Limerick, echoes of times past as another embattled inter-county hurling manager came out swinging in defence of his own training and management methods, in defiance of the majority of his own panel, only six of whom remain from last season.

“There was no communication problem,” blasted Justin, a direct contradiction of claims made by several of those who withdrew from the panel. “That was a good excuse initially, but I think that back as far as August, some of the players were trying to get rid of us (management), didn’t want us on board, because they had their own agenda.”

No problem with the training either, no fault of the management that the team suffered one of the most humiliating defeats ever inflicted on Limerick on the All-Ireland stage, a 6-19 to 2-7 humiliation against Tipperary in last August’s All-Ireland semi-final. “That was disappointing, no doubt about that; three simple mistakes made in the first half that had nothing to do with intensity or training or anything like that – these were hurling mistakes made during a game, which can happen, against a good team, and a good team will capitalise on mistakes like that, go to town.”