Stephen Lucey hints at a possible return to the inter-county fold

IN October 2009 Stephen Lucey, although he had played 29 times for the Limerick senior hurling team, was dropped unceremoniously by manager Justin McCarthy. But on Sunday evening last the Croom stalwart admitted that if he could get “injury free” and the management situation was “sorted out” on Shannonside that he would consider returning to the inter-county fold.
After contributing to a discussion on Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final between Tipperary and Waterford in Croke Park on RTÉ Radio One’s Take Your Point phone-in show a text from a listener prompted the presenter, Tipp’s Damien Lawlor, to ask the proud Croom man if would consider playing for the Limerick senior hurling team again.
“I have to get injury free first,” Stephen Lucey said.
“If I’m lucky enough to get picked we’ll see, we’ll see what happens. God knows anything could happen down here (in Limerick).”
Stephen Lucey also admitted that he was impressed by the manner in which the Independent Appointments Committee - comprised of Damien Quigley, Paudie Fitzmaurice and Jim Woulfe - were going about their business. This trio have been entrusted with the task of identifying a manager to succeed Justin McCarthy, or retain the services of the Cork man, and former full-back Stephen Lucey is confident that they “will do the right thing”.
“Well, there’s a three-man committee in place,” Stephen Lucey explained, “and I think they have done great work and they are fairly independent-minded.
“So, I think they will do the right thing. I would be hopeful that they would be fair.”
Limerick’s Stephen Lucey also admitted that the fall-out from Justin McCarthy’s decision to drop the Croom man, among others, had been difficult to deal with on a personal level for the past year.
“Oh God, there was a lot of flak,” Stephen Lucey said.
“There was a lot of stuff that happened this year that I wouldn’t like to go into now, but a lot of hurtful stuff went on. I would just leave it at that.”
Lucey also admitted that he was lucky to have the county senior football team to turn to, but that he felt great sympathy for other players who did not enjoy such a luxury.
“I was lucky with that. It was a great honour (to play with Mickey Ned O’Sullivan’s senior footballers) and we had a great set-up.
“We were close enough, but I feel very, very, very sorry for the lads that didn’t get to play.
“There’s a load of them there you know; Brian Geary and Seamie Hickey and Wayne McNamara, a load of them there that didn’t get to play.
“You know it was really, really tough for them especially for the championship matches, like Limerick versus Cork and all that.”
Stephen Lucey then concluded the segment by suggesting that he would keep an open mind in relation to potentially playing for the Limerick senior hurling team.
“I just have to get injury free, see if we’re lucky enough to get selected and we’ll take it from there”.
The comments of the former Limerick full-back has once again highlighted the fact that players like Stephen Lucey (who played 29 times for Limerick), Niall Moran (32 times) and Mark Foley (48 times) were never afforded a proper public apology/explanation for how they were treated in October 2009 when they were all dropped from manager Justin McCarthy’s senior hurling panel. Indeed, the fact that other members of the panel like Damien Reale (who played 36 times for Limerick), Brian Geary (37 times), Dónal O’Grady (27 times) and Seámus Hickey (20 times) would walk away in protest suggests that some sort of gesture is due to these players.

Brian McDonnell