Saturday, July 31, 2010 Previous editions
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
GERALD McCARTHY’S two-and-a-half year tenure as Cork hurling coach ended last night in the acrimony that has characterised the sorriest mess in Cork GAA history.
The Rebel legend stepped down amid claims of death threats against McCarthy and other abuse aimed at his family. The 63-year-old winner of five All-Ireland medals said this was one of the "tipping points" which led him to last night’s dramatic decision.
In a hard-hitting statement, McCarthy revealed his elderly father rang him in Spain this week to plead with him to step down after McCarthy’s son received another anonymous threat.
"The threat against my life which has been referred to the gardaí, is the latest in a sequence of threats and abuse, random or organised I do not know, which I and my family members have had to endure. Given the kind of vitriol at recent public meetings and indeed in some media commentary, it is hardly surprising thugs have attached themselves to the ‘cause’ of the 2008 hurlers. I cannot continue to expect a family even as supportive as mine to withstand that pressure and possibly to put their own safety at risk."
McCarthy also fired a parting broadside at the striking 2008 hurlers, who are now set to return to the county’s colours under a new, or interim, team management.
"I wonder will they be proven in time to be the heroic figures they are being made out to be in some quarters," he wondered.
"From my perspective, they have dishonoured the Cork jersey and used it as a weapon and a threat.
"The players’ modus operandi has been simple: strike, issue ultimatums, refuse to speak and raise the temperature by carefully choreographed public events. No amount of these can disguise the fundamental truth, however. No dispute was ever resolved in the absence of dialogue."
© Examiner Publications (Cork) Limited, City Quarter, Lapps Quay, Cork. Registered in Ireland: 73385.