Cavan players hit back with all guns blazing

The majority of the Cavan senior football panel last night denounced Liam Austin's interpretation of the events which precipitated his resignation and stressed their unanimous support for current chairman Brendan Keaney.

Twenty-two players stood behind vice-captain Gerry Sheridan as he read a prepared statement which decried the training methods adopted by trainer Hugo Clerkin and scorned recent comments made by their former manager Austin.

The lengthy statement repeatedly referred to the team training sessions under Clerkin, which, it was stated "had a disastrous affect on morale", leaving the panel with a standard of fitness "well below what is required for modern football".

"Liam Austin had observed team training and as a PE teacher and former inter-county player he should have known they were not up to scratch," read Sheridan.

The statement contended that when they voiced their dissatisfaction to Austin, he "took no action", prompting them to confront Clerkin himself at the meeting between players and management on December 16th.

They felt that that his failure to act on their unhappiness with Clerkin reflected Austin's lack of suitability to management and they further asserted that the team had had no tactical preparations for the championship and that Austin had "no ability to motivate players".

Clerkin, it was alleged, had accused the players of being "spineless, gutless and anonymous" prior to their criticism of his methods at that December meeting.

Although 20 issues had been scheduled for discussion at the meeting, only five were dealt with when one of the management, Michael Reilly, suggested the players meet alone to discuss the pertinent matters regarding the future of the team and management.

In the statement, it is specifically alleged that the management played an active role in organising the subsequent player meeting which led to a secret ballot of no confidence. Captain Dermot McCabe communicated the result of the ballot (22 to 4) to Austin.

"Having cut a stick with which to beat himself, the team manager could not then accept what he'd been told," commented Sheridan.

The statement said it had been "absurd" of Austin to suggest that Dermot McCabe had counted the votes alone. The players say three other players were present for the count and pointed out that the secret ballot negated any possibility of pressure to vote in a particular way.

Contrary to their hopes that Austin would "resign with dignity", they felt that Austin "hung on and gave his own account of events . . . thus inflicting the maximum damage" to Cavan football.

"Liam Austin is well educated, well groomed and media friendly," went the statement, and gained "maximum exposure of his side of the story".

The players also underlined their support for the Cavan chairman, Brendan Keaney.

"We the players felt that the chairman Brendan Keaney was entitled and had a right to remain in the dressing-room when Liam Austin was addressing us and we fully supported his decision to do so," read Sheridan, referring to the stand-off which developed between Austin and Keaney in the dressing-room after the NFL defeat by Fermanagh.

He added that Austin's suggestion that Keaney had used his powers in a manipulative fashion was "insulting".

"We are not children, you know," added Sheridan.

While emphasising that it had not been their wish to bring the events into the public domain, they felt that recent inaccuracies left them with no other option and they stated that they intended impressing their version of events on Brendan Murtagh, the Kingspan sponsor representative who has voiced his disgust at the way Austin was treated.

Among those in attendance while the statement was being issued was former midfielder Stephen King, widely tipped as favourite to succeed Liam Austin.

Meanwhile, county board chairman Keaney, who was singled out as the biggest influence in the resignation statement read by Austin, was reluctant to comment yesterday. It has been widely reported that the move against Austin was precipitated by the failure of Keaney's son to win a place in the county panel.

"Things hadn't been going well and I think there was a suspicion that the management would resign. I suppose it doesn't look good for Cavan football, but people feel we have to move ahead now and we will attempt to do that at the next meeting," said Keaney.

County secretary Gerry Soden said that the appointment of a new management team would feature heavily in the discussions at tonight's meeting of the board. He could not predict if the board would issue a formal reply to the highly critical content of the resignation statement.

Meanwhile, it would appear that the relationship between the Cavan team sponsors Kingspan and the county board continues to hang in the balance. Brendan Murtagh, the former Cavan player who handles sponsorship on behalf of the company, has already voiced his disgust at the manner in which the Austin management team were treated. He was unavailable for comment yesterday.