Limerick hurling manager Richie Bennis has denied telling a local newspaper that some members of his panel went drinking after training, claiming his comments were based purely on rumour. The Patrickswell clubman confirmed that he gave an interview to Limerick Leader journalist Jerome O'Connell, but has criticised the way the interview was handled by the local paper. He said: "My interview was based on rumours. Jerome rang me and he said: 'How are we going to get around this?' "What he said was: 'There are these rumours out there'. I said: 'What rumours?' "He said players were drinking and so forth. And I based my interview . . . 'Well, if these rumours are . . . 'that was the start of my interview. I said: 'If these rumours are true . . .' "We heard those rumours about the fallout from the Limerick-Offaly match. I'm not so worried about the article. It's the big headline it got. What it says was that they went drinking after training." But Limerick Leader editor Alan English defended the decision to run with the "Bennis lashes out: Players trained, then went off our drinking" headline. He said: "We did no misquote Richie. And I would vigorously defend the way his quotes were used in the newspaper. Every newspaper will slightly paraphrase headlines. There's absolutely nothing in that headline that isn't entirely true." Tweet

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