Mann defends Limerick statement
The Corkman yesterday called for Mann to refute the suggestion that he had informed him of his decision to resign via a voicemail.
The statement had read: “In the end he (O’Grady) choose to resign his position and informed the chairman by voicemail before 10pm on Sunday night last.”
Mann said he had received a voicemail from O’Grady and returned his call, which was unanswered, before O’Grady phoned back the chairman when at such time they had a conversation.
Mann told the Irish Examiner: “The Limerick County Board issued a statement and I don’t want to take away or add to it. I am satisfied it is 100% accurate. I don’t want to get into a slagging match with Donal in the media. This is not what it should be about. I have respect for Donal.”
O’Grady, who also revealed on RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland that fellow co-manager TJ Ryan had offered to step down along with him, took great exception to Limerick’s press release.
“I was very disappointed with it because there were efforts made in that statement to discredit me, particularly around the voicemail issue,” said O’Grady.
“I, in fact, spoke with Oliver Mann (county chairman). I rang him on Sunday night and I got his voicemail first. We (O’Grady and Ryan) decided that I would ring Oliver and then we would send out e-mails to the players because it was important that they didn’t find out through Facebook, Twitter or some other source.
“I couldn’t get Oliver at the beginning and I rang him back within minutes and we had a very cordial conversation. I told him I was impressed that he had admitted immediately at out meeting in Charleville on April 9 that we hadn’t apologised and he has always struck me as very decent man and sincere man.
“He just noted at the end that he was very sorry I was stepping down and that’s how we left it.”
O’Grady admitted he was then taken aback when he read the statement, which indicated he hadn’t articulated his decision to Mann directly.
“So to leave a sentence there just hanging like that I had resigned by voicemail, I think that was an effort to discredit me as it would show a total lack of respect on my behalf to chairman Oliver Mann.
“I just want to refute that because I was very, very disappointed that would be put on the Limerick website.”
“We decided that TJ would stay on in the interim and then whatever happened after that was up to TJ as such.
“TJ had said to me, ‘look, we came in together and go out together’ but we felt the best thing to do to handle those things was for him to stay on.”
On Wednesday morning, Ryan released his own statement, criticising the county board executive for singling out O’Grady despite them having expressed their full confidence in him going forward as sole manager.
It read: “We were both fully involved together in this situation and it is unfair to point the finger at Donal O’Grady, as we were not to blame for this. We both felt that arbitration was unnecessary.
“All that was required was a simple one-line statement. We agreed that I would remain on in the interim as upcoming fixtures, particularly a charity fundraiser against Cork, were in place. Both myself and Donal worked very well together at all times and training had been going very well. My focus now is that I along with Paul Beary and Mark Lyons ensure the best preparation is put in place for the Munster championship game.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
