A LETTER sent on by the Clare senior hurling panel to the county executive seeking the removal of manager Mike McNamara has sparked more off-season unrest between intercounty hurlers and their management.

This evening’s county board meeting was initially expected to rubberstamp McNamara for a third year in charge. That now seems unlikely as panel members request their club delegates postpone any decision until a mandate is sought.

When contacted by The Irish Times yesterday McNamara refused to comment. It was reported on Sunday that McNamara lost the dressingroom after a disastrous season that saw them relegated to Division Two and limply knocked out of the championship by Galway at Cusack Park. The 2009 Clare captain Brian O’Connell is believed to have met McNamara recently but he too refused to provide any clarity on the matter yesterday.

It also became apparent over the weekend the Clare panel does not possess the same unity and organisation shown by their Cork counterparts after a similar dispute with the county board and their former manager, Gerald McCarthy, earlier this year.

“A letter has been received by the executive expressing concern about the manager continuing,” said Clare PRO Syl O’Connor. “It was on behalf of the panel, bar one obvious player, and it comes from the more established players.”

McNamara’s son Conor is a current member of the panel.

“Top of the list for the county board is to avoid any player unrest,” O’Connor continued. “The intention is to put any problem to bed as soon as possible.”

Clare’s hurling’s low ebb, after narrowly avoiding relegation from the Liam MacCarthy Cup, took a remarkable turn when the under-21s overcame Joe Canning’s Galway, and then Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final, with a group whose only player to feature prominently on the senior side was free-taker Colin Ryan.

The manager of that team was John Minogue although he was assisted by former senior manager Cyril Lyons.

There are two other players from the All-Ireland winning teams of the 1990s managing intercounty panels at present. Anthony Daly, who already had a term in charge of Clare, is with Dublin while, despite having another year to run with Waterford, Davy Fitzgerald would become the immediate favourite should McNamara step down or the players get their wish and he is removed.

There will be no representation from the players or management at tonight’s meeting at the West County hotel in Ennis.

Should the county board support McNamara’s intention to stay on for another season, a second winter of player striking may be facing the GAA.

Meanwhile, comments attributed to Wexford county chairman Ger Doyle last week, when he presumed Wexford were entitled to home advantage against Dublin in next year’s Leinster football championship, have been corrected by Leinster council chief Michael Delaney. The match is likely to be played at Croke Park as part of a double header alongside another Leinster football quarter-final.

“That’s the way we have done it in the recent past,” said Delaney yesterday. “There has been no decision as yet and, yes, it is true Dublin were sent down to Longford a few years ago but we will be looking at a double header in Croke Park as an option.”

There are obvious financial concerns associated with taking the Dublin footballers out of Croke Park but Delaney was adamant this is not the primary motivation, rather the need to satisfy the large demand for tickets in the capital once the championship begins. “It is not so much the amount of revenue that may be lost but the amount of people who wish to attend Dublin championship matches that would be denied by a move out of Croke Park.”

Delaney clarified any confusion about last week’s draw when Doyle presumed Wexford were entitled to home advantage as they came out before Dublin.

“There is no such thing as names first out of the hat anymore as it is two bowls. The first name out used to have home advantage but not any more besides certain cases when a home and away agreement is in place, like with Laois and Offaly.”

The Wexford executive meet tomorrow night when they hope to make their collective opinion on the matter clear to the Leinster Council. “Obviously we are looking for any advantage we can get,” said Wexford secretary Margaret Doyle.