In a parting shot at the Munster Council, former Clare manager Ger Loughnane yesterday admitted that his one regret is that he didn't fully seek recompense for what he believes to have been "despicable" behaviour in the wake of the 1998 Munster final.

In a typically forthright and compelling piece of audio theatre broadcast on a dedicated Clare hurling website yesterday, Loughnane hinted that he would, at some future point, specify precisely why he felt so aggrieved with the council.

Asked what he would change about Clare's epic and bizarre 1998 championship summer, Loughnane contended that he "would have gone totally to town on the Munster Council.

"I would have pushed it a lot further and would have chanced them bringing a court case against Clare because I know the way they behaved was totally despicable. They broke the rules of the GAA and when an organisation breaks its own rules, it's heading for trouble.

"I have no bitterness towards the result or the people who did it but I know what they did was totally wrong and that they had no grounds for doing what they did. It's something I'll come back to later on and explain exactly what happened because it's a case of the truth being stranger than fiction in what happened in the aftermath of that Munster final."

Loughnane went on to recall the high points of his time with Clare and unreservedly ruled out a return to inter-county management.

"Well, the first thing I should purchase is a gun and leave it to my wife at home. Because if I ever even insinuate that I'm returning to county management, then I will tell her to have me shot straight away," he laughed. "Because it's something you should do once and once only."

He also put paid to speculation that he might return to the helm with Clare after a rest period.

"I know that the possibility is there but for me, it doesn't really apply. The way I train a team and approach it, you give so much of yourself that after a while, you just wear yourself out. Motivation goes and with me, when it goes I don't get it back."

He added that as far as he was concerned, his taking charge again would be a regressive move for Clare hurling.

"Clare people are used to seeing me on the sideline and they have a certain confidence in me on big days. But that couldn't last for ever and for the past few years, I was looking around to see who might come in. Clare hurling is not dependent on me or any other person but what it needs is to be constantly renewing itself by bringing in new people. I feel I am the luckiest person ever to come in to manage Clare at the time I did," he continued.

"But it's over. And to come back well, what are you saying there? - you're saying no one else here can do the job. That would be an awful, ridiculous thing to do. There are plenty of others to do the job."

When it was put to him that some observers contended Clare would have been better off without the Loughnane orations which electrified the summer of 1998, the former manager was unapologetic.

"If something wrong happens, you have to speak out about it, whether it costs you an All-Ireland or not. As Anthony Daly said afterwards, we wouldn't change a thing about it and make no apologies for anything we did or said."

Fiercely loyal to his players, Loughnane declared his most joyous days were in the training field with his team.

"Some of the games we had . . . . there was no audience there, it is something that will only be remembered by the players. And the great fun we had. It was like a family, we all rallied together."

He gleaned most satisfaction from the 1997 Munster final triumph over Tipperary and said Clare's first half performance against Offaly in game two of the semi-final saga was as close to perfection as his team had come.

As for what the future holds, he was somewhat elusive. He said that his one ambition now was to watch Clare win a Munster or All-Ireland title from the stands. He guffawed enthusiastically at the prospect of entering the political ring.

"That's a different game altogether - it's even worse than managing a county team, you have to be a bigger rogue to be involved. Anyway, I wouldn't agree with anybody in politics because I would probably say what I thought and when you say what you think in politics, you're finished."

The interview with Ger Loughane was aired yesterday @ Clarehurlers.com