Ger Loughnane believes the statement issued by the Clare players and management last night could backfire on them.

The All-Ireland winning Banner manager, writing in today's Irish Daily Star, feels all concerned would have been better off consigning the departure of Davy O'Halloran and Nicky O'Connell from the panel to the past.

But now, as a result of yesterday's statement, he thinks it won't be the last we hear of it.

"Does the statement issued by the Clare panel and the management on the departure of Davy O'Halloran and Nicky O'Connell bring the matter to a close?

"Not at all. Instead, this is like pouring petrol on a dying fire. I'd have been much happier if the Clare panel and management had just let the thing go.

"Now, there is a real danger that O'Halloran will be further aggrieved by this statement. So the whole thing could snowball."

In the statement, O'Halloran's former team-mates maintained there were 'numerous inaccuracies' in an interview he did outlining the background to his and O'Connell's decision to quit the panel.

"There are people who are always willing to think the worst of Davy Fitzgerald. That's why I think Davy Fitz and other members of his management team made a mistake by lending their names to this statement.

"Those with a jaundiced view of the set-up will straight away presume the players were put under pressure to sign the statement. If there was to be a statement, it should have come from the players, and the players alone."

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