Clubs rally to support McCarthy

IN THE end, it was emphatic.

The long-running crisis that has split Limerick hurling for the last five months came to a head last night at a special meeting of the county board in Claughaun GAA clubhouse. The meeting had been called after the requisite five clubs had submitted a Notice of Motion, which called for a rescinding of three previous motions favouring Justin McCarthy and his senior hurling management team.

When the count was made, a mere 47 agreed with the motion, 83 against, which was actually an increase in the level of support Justin received last December (70/54).

A decisive result, and a resounding defeat for those who had sought the removal of the manager.

“If there is a destination called ‘Shambles’ then that’s where we’re headed,” declared Ahane delegate Donal Morrissey, in proposing the motion.

Afterwards, while accepting the decision, he didn’t change his mind.

“That’s the end of it, definitely; we came in tonight only because we felt sure we had good support. We had at least 10 senior hurling clubs with us, plus a number of junior clubs who encouraged us to put the motion down. We felt that getting the necessary two-thirds majority (for the motion to succeed) was too tall an order but we thought we might get a majority, and a substantial majority.

“We didn’t, we have to accept that, and move on. But this is not going to get any better; we’re after playing four games in the league, started off with a seven-point defeat, against Galway, last week it was 22 points, against Tipperary – now we have Offaly, Kilkenny and Dublin coming up.

“No-one is going to have any sympathy for us now. The gloves are off; any county meeting Limerick now is going to say – ‘Right, this is ye’re best team? This is the way ye want to go? Fine, but we won’t be taking it easy on ye now, we won’t be taking off our best players, we won’t be experimenting, we’re going to motor on.’

“So be it – what the state of hurling in Limerick will be in September, I just don’t know, but depending on how it is, the executive board may have questions to answer.”

County board chairman Liam Lenihan, however, is hopeful this vote will have a positive effect, and that the 12 players who walked away from the panel in support of the way the original 12 were cut last October by McCarthy, will now return to the fold. “That’s the end of it,” he stated, echoing Donal Morrissey.

“I would appeal to the players now to reconsider – the club is where you start, it’s where you finish, and the clubs of Limerick have made this decision tonight. I would appeal to those clubs also to approach those players and get them to commit to Limerick for the rest of this season.”

A quick call around those dissenting players, however, suggests that chairman Lenihan’s call will fall on deaf ears. On condition of anonymity (to a man, they declared themselves sick of the whole affair) the five players contacted all accepted there is now no chance of a change in management, but all were adamant that they wouldn’t be returning.

“It was pretty cut and dried, wasn’t it?” said one; “The clubs obviously didn’t like what was going on, they must have thought this was all about player power.” And indeed that did seem to be the case with some individuals at least, one very happy delegate stating loudly “This is the end of the GPA,” obviously under the impression that the players’ representative body was somehow at the root of the problem.

“An awful thing to think that the clubs in Limerick believe that leaving that man (Justin McCarthy) in place is going to benefit Limerick hurling – if they think he’s that good, they should give him another two years,” said another player. “This will do irreparable damage to Limerick hurling for the next few years. Leave them at it now, see where it ends up. Offaly, Kilkenny then Dublin in the next few weeks in the league, but the test will come in the championship, against the winners of Cork and Tipperary. As for returning – I’d rather shoot myself than go back.”