The Cork row intensified last night when hurling captain, John Gardiner said that the squad were prepared to sacrifice their careers if no resolution could be found to their dispute with the county board over the appointment of a manager. "We feel so strongly about the situation that we are prepared to walk away from our own careers for the sake of young players coming after us. We feel the need to take a stand against the board," he said. Speaking on RTE's Prime Time, Gardiner insisted that the squad weren't being particularly militant but were prepared to show "a bit of backbone" in a determination to do their best for Cork. They believe their views on who should manage them in 2009 were ignored by the county board, who re-appointed Gerald McCarthy against the express wishes of the squad. The players were aggrieved by the process and feel that it was a grab for power by the board.

Cork's senior hurling panel felt it had "no choice but try to set the record straight" by issuing a lengthy and damning statement on its point of view over the current impasse in the county on Wednesday evening. The players believe there have been "attempts to mislead the Cork GAA public", insisting recent comments from various parties "can only be interpreted as constituting a vendetta." Instead, the panel argue that the players never wanted to be able to pick their own manager and reports that the entire squad is led by one or two individuals are incorrect. In response to Gerald McCarthy's claim that "player power" was behind the threat of mass retirements, the statement, issued to The Irish Examiner, read: "The players don't say they have the right to pick the manager, nor do they want the right to pick the manager. "The players have the right, according to a binding agreement, to have a two-sevenths representation in the process to appoint a new manager."

Cork’s disgruntled hurlers are set to release a statement tonight (Wednesday) as to why they refuse to play under newly re-appointed manager Gerald McCarthy. The players are understood to have met twice this week to discuss the issue, and their impending statement is expected to be very critical of both McCarthy and the Cork County Board. It is thought that the push on the players behalf for a statement to be made comes in light of the National Hurling League fixtures for next year being released. Cork open their league campaign against Dublin at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on February 8.

Dublin on February 8, 2009, in the opening round of the Allianz NHL will be the first test of Gerald McCarthy's resolve to field a Cork hurling team in a competitive fixture -- unless there has been a resolution to the current impasse. As the row lingers on between the players and their manager over his re-appointment, it emerged yesterday that the warring Rebels' first game in next year's league will be against the men from the capital -- who could then be managed by former Kilkenny rival DJ Carey. The league hurling fixtures have been despatched to county secretaries and that date will already be firmly fixed in McCarthy's mind as the day he must have the wagons circled.

Former Cork hurling manager John Allen has pointed the direction of blame for the latest conflict between Gerald McCarthy and the Cork players towards the Cork county board. Allen led the Rebel County to its last taste of All-Ireland glory back in 2005 and believes that the board are accountable for the current crisis that exists between the players and manager at present, and believes that both parties have become "the victims" of no list of candidates being drawn up for the position of manager. "The players and Gerald are being portrayed as the villains of the piece. They’re not the villains. They’re the victims," said Allen in his column in the Irish Times.

Cork hurlers’ hopes of challenging for silverware next season may have been already lost over the latest conflict within the camp, according to former Rebel boss Donal O’Grady. The current Hurling Selection Committee chairman was speaking yesterday at the announcement of the 2008 GPA Opel Gaelic ’Team of the Year’ in Dublin and pointed out that history frowns badly upon past Cork teams that have suffered such set backs as this latest one. "If you look back at history, any time there were splits in the camp, those counties didn’t give of their best the following year," said O’Grady. "There are probably exceptions to that but that is the situation that Cork find themselves in.

The County hurling squad are once again at loggerheads with the county board, after captain Ben O'Connor confirmed that the entire playing squad will not play under the manager Gerald McCarthy. O'Connor has laid the blame for the second stand-off this year firmly at the door of the County Board. The Rebels' skipper described the process of appointing the manager as 'farcical' and a set up for the players who had gained concessions to be part of the selection process in their strike action earlier this year. Its alleged the two player representatives went to a meeting of the selection committee to choose a manager after only for the five other county board representatives to propose that McCarthy be re-appointed for another two years, with no-one else was mentioned.