Ryan: It’s not going to be sorted until Justin resigns
Spoken of as a possible future manager for Limerick, perhaps Ryan should be keeping his powder dry in the current standoff, playing the political game and being careful not to upset any of those who might later be in a position to confirm his appointment to the top job. For the man from Garryspillane, however, no such option. TJ believes that Limerick hurling is in serious crisis, balanced on a knife-edge, and he has strong opinions on why this is so.
“The hurling public in Limerick is quite a small community, we’re all attached to one side or the other, and from the outset I want to make this clear; having been a player for such a long time, having also played with many of the lads in the current set-up, I’d be on the players’ side more than anything on this.
“There are a number of issues I’d like to address. First, there’s this myth in Limerick that the players have been responsible for getting rid of the last six or seven managers – even Justin made an oblique reference to it in his radio interview, suggesting this group of players have become almost unmanageable. That’s bullshit. I didn’t play under Justin, but I did play under the previous six managers, and I can tell you what happened on each of those occasions.
“First, Richie Bennis – the players did not get rid of him. He went for re-election, the committee and the delegates decided to go with Justin.
“Joe McKenna – the players didn’t get rid of him either; Joe decided to go after the loss in Clare, but we had a good relationship with him, got to a league final, were very unlucky against Tipperary in the championship in 2005.
“Padjoe Whelehan – there might be a slight case against the players there, but Padjoe eventually decided himself to walk away.
“Before him, Dave Keane – the players didn’t get rid of him. The county board put it to the clubs, and the clubs voted him out.
“Eamonn Cregan – he was there for five years, the players didn’t get rid of him. In fact at one stage, in 2001, the players actually put their heads on the block to keep him, wanted him to stay when the issue of the dual players came up.
“The manager before him was Tom Ryan – the players definitely didn’t get rid of Tom! Yet today, I heard of a fella who stated – ‘I’m with Justin McCarthy anyway, the players are after getting rid of the last six or seven managers’.
“That’s a common fallacy in Limerick, among people who don’t have a full knowledge of what has happened over the years. The perception has been growing out there about the players, that they’re never happy. I can’t understand where that’s coming from – it’s wrong.”
He added: “Go back to what kicked this off, Justin cutting 12 players from the panel without as much as a phone call to any of them – what was that about? If it had happened in any other county, serious questions would have been asked, yet he’s gotten away with it in Limerick.
“To suggest, as Justin did in his interview, that Limerick’s poor season last year was down to just a couple of basic errors against Tipperary in the semi-final – you’re fooling yourself. That’s like Benitez blaming Liverpool’s season so far on that penalty decision against Reading.
“You look at Limerick last year, proven players like Damien Reale, Andrew O’Shaughnessy, Donal O’Grady – none of them played well, not nearly as well as they’d been playing for years. The manager has to take responsibility for that. Then you look at some of those he dropped – as a commentator with local radio I was at every league and championship match last year, and Stephen Lucey was the best defender Limerick had. Yes, he made mistakes against Tipperary, but other than that he was the outstanding defender, while Niall Moran was the best forward – both dropped. Why? We all know the expression that you’re only as good as your last game, but there’s another expression – form is temporary, class is permanent, and Justin dropped some class players.
“Andrew O’Shaughnessy has been one of Limerick’s top players for years, an All Star a few years ago – what happened with him last year? Whether we like to admit it or not in Limerick, we don’t have a lot of top-quality hurlers, so you must look after those you have, and you certainly shouldn’t be dropping them – what kind of management is that?”
Ryan added: “It’s obvious what happened – after the players had their own meeting before the Wexford game, to galvanise themselves for what would be the most important match of the year, Justin obviously felt threatened, thought the players were discussing getting rid of him, and banned all future player meetings. From what the players are telling me, that’s absolutely wrong, there was NEVER a push to get rid of Justin, but in getting rid of those guys, and maybe with what happened to him in Waterford in mind, Justin was taking preemptive action – thinking of protecting himself.
“The perception is there that this group of players wouldn’t be happy with ANY manager – that’s wrong. They’re just not happy with this manager. I’d be particularly close to some of them, Damien Reale, Mike O’Brien, Donie – (TJ’s brother) – and I know those guys are all dedicated to Limerick hurling, they all want to hurl for Limerick. They just don’t want to hurl for this man.
“In any situation if your players go against you – especially your most senior players – you’re in trouble. The only resolution I can see to this now is that Justin resigns – it’s almost exactly the same as the Cork situation last year, but the difference is that the Limerick panel isn’t as organised. We don’t want it to get to the stage it reached in Cork, with an entirely new team in the league – that’s not going to do Limerick hurling any good. I don’t want to get involved in the blame game, but the only way to get this sorted is for Justin to resign. He started this, felt falsely threatened, put his own interests first, not Limerick.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
