Saturday, March 20, 2010 Previous editions
Friday, November 20, 2009
HEADING inexorably down the same rutted briar-ridden cul-de-sac as that travelled by Cork GAA several times over the past decade, that’s Limerick hurling today.
The announcement yesterday the management committee of the county board are still ‘unanimously’ behind under-pressure Justin McCarthy, even after several more high-profile players had pulled out of the panel, means that Limerick are now facing into a new season with only a fraction of the 2009 panel still in place.
As Cork found earlier on this year – to their cost – that doesn’t work.
It all began a couple of weeks ago with the botched announcement 12 members were being cut from the 2009 panel. Several of those players had given many years of service to Limerick, and the fact they weren’t even given the courtesy of a phone call informing them they were no longer required upset others in the panel.
However, a follow-up statement by Justin was what really caused problems. "There will always be people who will put you on the wrong track, always guys that will try and break the system and try things on," he stated.
Two of those who were cut, Stephen Lucey and Mark O’Riordan, were also members of the Limerick senior football team that came within an ace of beating All-Ireland finalists Cork in the Munster final.
This was what senior football manager Mickey Ned O’Sullivan had to say about the two dual players: "I never had one iota of trouble with those two during the year, they were as good as you could get to train.
"I never had a problem with their fitness, they are two lads who always look after themselves anyway."
Three more of those cut – Andrew O’Shaughnessy, Mike O’Brien, Donie Ryan – are teetotallers, while another, Niall Moran, is almost a 24/7 hurler, utterly dedicated.
Unhappy with how his erstwhile team-mates had been treated, former captain Damien Reale resigned a few days later, quickly followed by James Ryan, Limerick’s most improved player this year. On Wednesday evening, however, the county board were informed that several others, including such luminaries as long-serving centre-back Brian Geary, outstanding defender Seamus Hickey and Donal O’Grady, along with Wayne McNamara and former captain James O’Brien were also leaving the panel. Given this year’s captain Mark Foley and midfielder Gavin O’Mahony are also said to be gone, this means that of those who started the All-Ireland semi-final loss to Tipperary a few months ago, only four are still pledging allegiance to the Corkman’s regime – goalkeeper Brian Murray and forwards Paul Browne, David Breene and Paudie McNamara.
The pressure is mounting, then, on both Justin McCarthy himself, and on the Limerick county board. Two years ago a move by the players saw Justin leave the position of manager in Waterford. His cuts a few weeks ago were seen by many within the Limerick panel as being pre-emptive, getting rid of those who were most vocal against what was happening in training during the year, especially the two team spokesmen, Stephen Lucey and Niall Moran.
His stance since then, and the subsequent ‘full backing’ by the management committee of the board, suggests this one is going to get dirty. In Cork, it dragged on for months, made Cork GAA a laughing-stock throughout the country and it wasn’t ‘til the grassroots got involved that a resolution was forced on all parties. Is history about to repeat itself, across the border?
Meanwhile, in Clare, where more controversy rages, there is still deadlock, the players holding firm in their opposition to the current management team led by Mike McNamara, and backed by the county board. With board chairman Michael O’Neill out of the country on business, conciliation talks are on hold, expected to resume again today, with a resolution expected by the weekend.
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