Limerick chairman Liam Lenihan has denied claims from the 2009 hurling squad that the county board has looked to intimidate and bully some of them back onto the panel.
Chaos continues to reign amid hurling circles in the county with most of last year’s panel having stayed away ever since a host of them were unceremoniously left out of manager Justin McCarthy’s plans, adamant in their refusal to play under the Cork man. 24 of them remain in exile, though James O’Brien has returned to play with the side who have lost both of their opening NHL Division One games to Galway and Cork.
And late on Sunday the stayaway players issued a statement suggesting that inexperienced players had become the subject of unfair influence to return to the panel, but this has been rejected by Lenihan ahead of a county board meeting at Claughan on Tuesday evening.
"There is no official response yet to the players’ statement, because we haven’t had a chance to meet," Lenihan was quoted as saying by the Irish Examiner.
"Believe it or not, we have a lot of other business to attend to. The board will be meeting Tuesday evening.
"Obviously it will be discussed, and we will be issuing a response to the allegations, but I doubt that anyone has been intimidated or bullied – certainly I didn’t do so, but I can only talk for myself. Anyone who knows me knows that wouldn’t be my style."
Limerick face Waterford at Fraher Field, Dungarvan, in their third NHL game of the season on Sunday.