The Limerick county board has replied to some local criticism that the appointment of Eamonn Cregan as manager of the county's senior hurling team was rushed through with indecent haste before several delegates had arrived at the meeting.

A statement issued through the county PRO, Sandra Marsh, yesterday said the matter had been dealt with in "a proper and efficient manner" on Tuesday night, with 133 out of 146 delegates present. It is understood that criticism of the way in which the meeting handled the matter arose from the fact that by the time the delegates from Ballybrown, the club of outgoing manager Tom Ryan, arrived the matter had been decided.

The statement says that the executive of the county board is "comfortable" with the way the meeting was run. It continues: "In view of the fact that this was a high profile meeting the executive felt that it should start promptly as it was aware that its decision regarding the appointment of a senior hurling manager was the focus of much media attention and was eagerly awaited both by the delegates and the national media which had two representatives in attendance.

"Taking these factors into consideration it was decided to deal with the issue early on in the meeting. The normal procedures were adopted in relation to the minutes and the county chairman, Brendan Danaher, then announced the decision (a recommendation that Cregan be appointed) of the executive to the meeting.

"At this time there were 133 out of a total of 146 delegates in the hall. None of the delegates chose to speak on the recommendation and the matter was duly proposed and seconded."