Ryan says nothing sinister behind O’Grady exit from Limerick

WHILE Donal O’Grady had always insisted his commitment to the Limerick senior hurling management position was for one year only, his announcement yesterday that he would not be continuing still took many people by surprise.

Within Limerick itself, however, there was both surprise and disappointment, not least within the county board, as iterated by county secretary Mike O’Riordan: “Definitely, yes. After the job he did this year (winning Division 2, getting Limerick to the All-Ireland quarter-final) everyone in the county was hoping Donal would stay on for another 12 months, or even more, but he stuck to his word.”

The next task now is to find a successor, sooner rather than later. “At the moment there’s nothing concrete I can tell you. It’s a democratic process, there’s nothing can be done ‘til we talk to the Management committee on Monday night, then the county board meeting on Tuesday night, and that’s where everything will be discussed.

“Hopefully we can get the proper structure in place to keep everyone happy, but time wouldn’t be long going. You have the county semi-finals this weekend, the final three weeks later, then the October county board meeting is the last one of the year. Time is actually at a premium, you want to get all that sorted out.”

One of the early favourites is former Limerick captain TJ Ryan, selector this year alongside Ciarán Carey (another hot candidate) and Pat Heffernan, but TJ takes issue with the speculation that has already begun as to whether there were factors inside the camp that prompted O’Grady’s decision.

“I see that already people are wondering what was behind it, looking for reasons, trouble with the backroom team and all that – it’s all bull, there was no problem. People just don’t want to believe the truth, that he was never going to stay on, but it’s always the same — never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

“From my own point of view the impression he gave from the start was that this was a one-year deal, and a one-year deal only, and nothing he said or did during the year gave any indication of anything different.

“I don’t know what might have happened behind the scenes in the last few months, I presume the board worked hard to try to keep him, but this is where we’re at. I hadn’t discussed it with him, I didn’t see that as my place; Donal was the head of this management team, and whatever he was going to do was going to decide what happened to all of us. He’s gone now, we’re gone too, that management team is finished – it wasn’t as if we signed deals for two or three years, or anything like that.”

Would TJ himself be interested? “This is not a political answer, but I don’t think people have any idea what’s involved in managing an inter-county team. The amount of time and effort – everyone knows about the number of training sessions involved, well over 100, but that’s only a small part of management. There’s all the matches, the time spent travelling, the time spent making phonecalls – you could spend a day every week on that alone.

“I have two young kids, a wife, a job in the printing industry which has become very competitive in recent years, though my employer (Cube Printing) has been very good to me. Right now I can’t say I would or I wouldn’t, but I would say that Donal O’Grady brought Limerick on a good distance, we’re in a better place because of him.

“Whoever takes over, the youngsters he brought in will need a good professional setup to enable them to take the next step forward. That’s what the Limerick public will be looking for, that’s what we’ll all be hoping for.”