Dublin hurlers reject interim management

The crisis in Dublin hurling deepened at the weekend with the players insisting they will not fulfil any of their fixtures under the present county chairman, John Bailey, and the interim management team appointed in the wake of the dismissal of Humphrey Kelleher.

The panellists also claimed they were intimidated due to their stance on Thursday night - a claim the county board vigorously denies.

The panel met on Friday to discuss the current situation - Kelleher was axed as their manager in the wake of the Leinster SHC defeat to Laois - and they issued a statement yesterday through the Gaelic Players Association.

It read: "Under no circumstances will we fulfil any fixture with the proposed 'interim' management team as presented to us last Thursday night in Parnell Park, which included John Bailey at the helm.

"The players have taken serious issue with the threat implied or otherwise that Dublin hurlers who did not accept this 'interim' management team would be forbidden from playing with Dublin in the future.

"Although these claims were categorically denied by the John Bailey on local radio on Friday evening, we wish to re-emphasise that this intimidation of players did occur last Thursday night in Parnell Park."

The statement added: "The players will draft a letter which we request to be read out at a full meeting of the Dublin County Board this week outlining in detail the events of the past week and our current position on the matter.

"We ask the County Board to seek out and put in place a satisfactory management team, as an interim measure, before making a full-time appointment. The squad will continue to train collectively in preparation for our vital upcoming championship matches."