Richie Bennis has accused Limerick county board officials of shirking their responsibility by leaving the task of appointing a new hurling manager to a three-man committee comprising Paudie Fitzmaurice, Jim Wolfe and Damien Quigley.

"The county board are elected to run the county's affairs and they've opted out already" the 1973 All-Ireland winner said on Newstalk Radio.

"They picked five individuals to pick three individuals to come up with a manager. That's opting out.

"I have no problem with the three lads but the way it's done… I would have got all the previous managers of the last four or five years - and we've had a lot of them - and see where it went wrong and how you'd right it. But they haven't even consulted any past manager."

Bennis, who led Limerick to an All-Ireland final appearance just three years ago, also criticised the executive for allowing the dispute between outgoing manager Justin McCarthy and members of last year's panel to drag on.

"It's very sad," he said.

"The blame must start with the county board. They allowed it to gather momentum. If they'd have acted quickly the problem would have been solved. They got plenty of advice and plenty of reasons to do so but seemingly they wanted Justin at all costs. I felt sorry for the lads (against Cork in the championship); they were like lambs to the slaughter." Tweet

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