Clare made short work of Limerick last night in this year's Munster Football Championship opener. A 1-23 to 0-14 victory was enough to guarantee them a semi-final tie against Kerry in Killarney.
However, speaking to The Sunday Game after the match, Limerick's manager Billy Lee had more on his mind than the nature of this chastening defeat.
Discussing the difficulties of bringing a sufficient squad of players together, and ensuring their commitment to the team, Lee sensationally revealed an additional issue that plagued Limerick's preparation in the build up to this game.
An "absolute nightmare" in Lee's own words, an administrative error had left the Limerick manager short of one player despite his being on the bench:
We had a lad who was due to be on the bench, and had actually togged out and was on the bench, and because of inaccuracies in our administration, I couldn't use him.
I had to tell the lad afterward that he couldn't play, and he was distraught.
Explaining the details of what had exactly gone wrong, Lee recalled how on Wednesday he was asked to "put a team in" for the programme. Unfortunately, a mishap with the team that was sent in to officials at Croke Park left Limerick in an invidious position.
Only three and a half hours before Limerick were due to commence their Munster championship tie against Clare, Lee discovered that he would not be allowed to play Jim Liston, despite his being among the Limerick players.
Angry and disappointed about the incompetence in question, Lee also railed against the footballer's treatment by the Limerick county board.
Revealing that the team had been supplied with no food after training on Wednesday night, the shambolic nature of what had occurred over the recent days left Lee threatening that he wouldn't "let the team go out to play the game" against Clare last night.
Ruefully explaining that "this is what goes on when you're down where we are," it is unlikely that this will be the last we hear of this episode.
You can watch Lee's full interview below.
