Rarely has a public company board faced such a withering onslaught than that faced by the Unidare directors from Michael Walsh. And never has such an onslaught been so deserved. The only pity is that not enough shareholders lined up behind Dermot Desmond and Pierce Casey to vote down the Oklahoma Rig acquisition.

Even then the 51.7 to 48.3 per cent majority in favour of the acquisition shows that there is a large disgruntled group of Unidare shareholders, and opposition to the board is not just confined to Desmond and Casey who own 27 per cent of the group.

Michael Walsh's tirade against the Unidare board didn't go as far as to demand its resignation. But it didn't take much reading between the lines to see that Mr Desmond and Mr Casey have no confidence in the management's ability to expand the business, given its dismal record in recent years.

Given the support Mr Desmond and Mr Casey have, this week's narrow emergency general meeting for the Unidare board may yet end up as a pyrrhic victory.