News round-up: n the latest instalment of the raging controversy in Clare hurling, former manager Ger Loughnane unveiled as promised what he had described as "a critical error" in county chair Michael McDonagh's version of the events that led to the latter, himself a garda, making a complaint to the gardaí about alleged comments by Loughnane.

The revelation - which was felt by some not to shed much additional light on the subject - was an allegation by Loughnane that McDonagh had rung former Clare physio Colum Flynn, who the chairman believed had been talking to Loughnane during an overheard phone call.

"What people don't realise is that I don't know this man McDonagh at all and I didn't even know his profession," said Loughnane on Clare FM yesterday morning. "When I called out the conversation I had with him, following him listening in to my conversation with the other person I said he couldn't deny it took place because the last piece of the puzzle is that later that night he rang Colum Flynn, who he presumed I was talking to on the phone, told him that he had heard me threatening Fr Harry Bohan and that he had heard me speak about matters I was going to talk about to the reporter Ian O'Riordan.

"It is a chairman's job to smooth over difficulties . . . not to pour oil on something that is threatening to turn into a bushfire. He listened into a private conversation. He told me, the person he had listened to, that he had heard it and then he went and told a third party he had listened in to this conversation.

" He refused to . . . face me in studio but I will say this in his defence. I do not believe he's the real culprit here. I believe he was set up by a very small clique, who wanted to spite me and Tony Considine (former Clare selector) because of our involvement in media analysis of teams and especially the Clare team."

The matter of a holiday for Loughnane's 1995 All-Ireland winning team was again raised with a statement from the organising committee, rejecting allegations some former players had had their trips paid for. Loughnane disputed this and the statement's claim everyone involved had been invited, saying Considine had been excluded.

Later Séamus Hayes of the Clare Champion, a member of the committee rejected this. "A letter definitely went out to Tony Considine. He now says he didn't get it but it's agreed he got a second letter."