Howard quits at Kerry hurling boss

CLARECASTLE’S Tommy Howard has stepped down from his post of manager of the Kerry senior hurlers citing a lack of commitment by some players as the reason for his sudden departure.

Howard and his management team, which also included fellow Clarecastle man Fergie 0’Loughlin as trainer, issued a joint statement to a meeting of the Kerry County Board last week outlining the reasons behind their decision.

Speaking on Radio Kerry, Howard said he and his management team felt the Kerry team had to “up their game for next year’s league and saw pre-season training as key to this.”
“The management team met six weeks ago and tried to critically review the 2013 season and what we needed to do to improve on our performance in 2014. We met the county board and received a positive response from them on our plans. One of the critical areas we identified was to improve the general fitness of all the players. This would involve six to eight weeks of pre-season training to improve our fitness and body strength. Unfortunately, we have not received the support from a sufficient number of players for this plan and as a result we feel we have no other choice but to step down.”
Howard and his management team of Fergie McLoughlin, Pádraig Regan (Kilmoyley), Noel Browne (Ballyduff) and Michael Burke (Causeway) had just finished their first year with the Kerry hurlers.
During a relatively successful year, Kerry only lost one league game, away to Laois, and only lost the Christy Ring Cup final to Down to an injury time goal.