Limerick hurling crisis rumbles on

The Limerick hurling crisis is set to rumble on after it was agreed at Thursday night's County Board meeting in Ballyagran to hold another meeting of club delegates of the players affected on 12 December.

Manager Justin McCarthy has come under attack for his controversial axing of 12 players from last season's panel, and with nine more players withdrawing their services, McCarthy will have a hugely weakened panel with which to work from if the current impasse is not resolved.

While obviously unhappy with the handling of the omissions, the players have also declared their lack of support for the methods and style of McCarthy and his management team, citing a lack of intensity at training sessions.

However, according to a report in today's Irish Examiner, McCarthy and his selectors defended their approach, insisting: 'There was never a training session that was haphazard, or lackadaisical. Everyone was totally committed - there was no night when we didn't have a good session.'

Selector Brian Ryan recalled a weekend away in Killarney ahead of the All-Ireland semi-final where every player was asked if they had any problems.

He revealed: 'The last question every one of them was asked was - did he have any issues he wanted to bring up? Of the 29 players, only two said yes, and those were to do with travelling to Dublin on the night before the game against Tipperary. It was staggering then, months later, to hear they had all these problems.'

A detailed questions and answers session posed many questions of McCarthy and his team, before the Adare delegate proposed a motion of no confidence in the management team.

However, it was agreed that the club delegates of the players affected would reconvene on 12 December in Claughaun clubhouse to discuss the matter further, meaning there is no end in sight for this saga.