News: Former Limerick football manager Liam Kearns has responded furiously to apparent criticism of his methods by the outgoing county football chairman, Owen Hayes.
In yesterday's Irish Times, Hayes said the panel had over 150 training sessions for the championship, in contrast to 60 by All-Ireland champions Tyrone. Kearns denied this.
"I can state categorically and factually that Limerick senior footballers trained collectively on 99 occasions and I am in possession of records outlining details of each of these training sessions," he said.
Kearns also pointed out the county board restricted his players to training at the University of Limerick gymnasium after paying for membership there for the panel.
"Thirty of these sessions took the form of weight training and aqua sessions at the facilities of the University of Limerick. The board was not amenable to paying for the use of other gymnasiums around the county so the weight training had to be on a collective basis at that facility. In reality the Limerick senior footballers trained collectively on 69 occasions outdoors.
"It would appear that the training was very similar to that of the All-Ireland champions but for one salient point - Tyrone players conducted personal training sessions in gymnasiums convenient to them whereas Limerick players had to train collectively due to the difference in resources.
"Furthermore, the facilities at the University of Limerick were only available to the Limerick footballers during the football season as the board did not cover the off-season, which would not have happened in Tyrone.
"Again, comparing Tyrone's preparations with Limerick's, I can state that when I asked for a weekend away in Dublin at our sponsors' hotel in preparation for a Munster final, I was informed by the county board that the team could stay one night either before or after a challenge against Dublin but not two.
"It is well known that Tyrone have stayed at a Dublin hotel prior to big matches. Again this is an indication of the resources available."
Kearns did not seek another term in charge of Limerick after defeat to Derry in the All-Ireland qualifiers on July 17th. However, he was keen to defend his record.
"When I took over as manager of the Limerick senior football team six years ago they were rated number 33 in the country and were struggling to hold any type of collective training session. In our first year I trained the Limerick under-21 team to an All-Ireland final, their first, which ironically we lost to Tyrone.
"And that one successful underage team formed the basis of the senior team that competed against the huge resources of Kerry, Armagh and all the other successful football counties over the following four years.
"In 2004 Limerick competed in a Division One league semi-final and lost by two points to eventual winners Kerry and drew with the same county in that year's Munster final, and they again went on to become All-Ireland champions.
"Following that year the Limerick senior football team was rated in the top 10 senior football teams in Ireland. It is for others to judge how well my management team and I utilised the resources at our disposal but on behalf of my management team and myself I would like to express how disappointed I am at having to defend our training methods publicly due to the unfair portrayal of them in yesterday's newspapers.
"As for Mr Hayes' assertion that the incoming Limerick football manager will be following a different method of training, which he claims will be more successful - only time will tell."
