County Board willing to bring in mediators in Limerick Hurling row

The Limerick County Board have said last night they are willing to fund the services of a professional mediator in the Limerick hurling dispute in a meeting club delegates at Claughaun last night.

Following an intense hour-long debate Limerick Chairman Liam Lenihan said that a motion of no confidence in Justin McCarthy could only be moved if five clubs had given their backing to submit a motion prior to the meeting.

At their December meeting delegates had given McCarthy a strong vote of confidence.

"I can’t take a motion of no confidence tonight," Lenihan said. "We have to have notice of motion, signed by five clubs. A democratic decision was taken (to have Justin McCarthy as manager); where we’re concerned, unless it is overturned by you that decision still stands."

Lenihan also said that the 2009 squad have refused to play and that as far as he was concerned he would like to have the striking players back.

However he also stated that he is determined to support the current management and the 2010 players, whom he said have performed exceptionally well in the two league games to date.

There was strong criticism by some delegates of Croke Park's decision not to intervene in the dispute, with many feeling that a third-party mediator could help resolve the crisis.

Lenihan said that the county board were willing to fund the services of a professional mediator, but this came with mixed views from the floor.

Ahane's Louis Quirke felt that positions had hardened on both sides, since the matter was last voted upon in December.

"The players have made it clear that they’re not going back under this manager – how many times has that got to be said?" he questioned.

"We have only two options – we vote to remove the manager, or we leave things as they are. As I can see, positions have hardened since the last meeting, mediation has even less of a chance.

"We have only two choices, left to us – change the management, or not. When Croke Park isn’t acceptable to the players, who is?"

Kilmallock's Val Maloney was in agreement with his Ahane counterpart.

"To ask the delegates to agree to a professional mediator is a proposal from the attic; we’re after getting ourselves into this mess, we now have only two options to get ourselves out of it – move Justin, or never talk to about it again.

"Six months on (from the start of the crisis), it’s time for the executive to bite the bullet, look for a motion of no confidence, move on."

Meanwhile board delegate Henry Martin also felt a mediator was a 'waste of money'.

"It costs big money to bring down a professional mediator – it’s a waste of money we don’t have. We should knock that on the head now. We have two choices, go on as we are with Justin or change management. Mediation won’t change anything, the players have made their position clear twice, publicly; we might as well throw our money down the drain."

Lenihan rejected the striking players criticism that there was a concerted effort being made by the county board to influence the thinking of club delegates and the younger players in the ongoing conflict.

One delegate said that they either should move a motion to get rid of Justin McCarthy or accepted the situation and move on with the 2010 panel.

Newcastlewest delegate Sean Roche suggested that the top table needed to show leadership and that thousands of genuine Limerick supporters were being let down by the dispute.

"The players are happy, the manager is happy, the board is happy, but what about the genuine Limerick supporters? Are they happy? We know they’re not."

It was also stated that the crisis could prove divisive among club players.