WHERE to now for Limerick hurling? That is the inevitable question to ask after last night's scarcely overwhelming vote of confidence in the embattled Justin McCarthy to continue as their senior manager in 2010.

The options look stark in the short term, and you will forgive jaundiced observers of this increasingly familiar 'player-v-manager' circus if they don't view last night as the end of this story. Not by a long shot.

Either the eight players who quit McCarthy's squad, in protest at his earlier culling of 12, return now with tails between their legs ... or else they stay away and the manager enters a new National League season with a drastically understrength squad.

In the latter (likely) scenario, especially given the recent dearth of underage success on Shannonside, the new-look Limerick could face a series of embarrassing defeats and probable relegation to Division Two.

And all the while, the pressure is sure to mount on the manager.

SPLIT

The prospect of players suddenly returning looks only a pipe-dream, especially as last night's meeting was told that they have refused to enter negotiations with their manager while mediation has also been ruled out.

Twenty-one players along with their club delegates attended a meeting with the board last weekend but, with no breakthrough emerging from those talks, the board pressed ahead with last night's specially convened meeting in Claughaun.

McCarthy duly survived a secret ballot by 70 votes to 54. However, given that the board officers nailed their colours firmly to the mast in support of McCarthy, it seems fair to surmise that Limerick clubs are virtually split down the middle on this intractable dispute.

The Limerick executive went out on a limb by proposing a vote of confidence in the veteran Cork coach -- this required a simple majority whereas a vote of no confidence, tabled by a delegate, would have needed a two-thirds majority.

Following this latest development, there is a pretty widespread belief that Limerick's unproven youngsters could suffer a similar fate to that inflicted on Gerald McCarty's Cork '09 squad during the first half of this year's NHL.

And we all know where that acrimonious tale ended -- with the resignation of Justin's namesake and former teammate.

Perhaps one key difference is that the Cork hurlers presented a consistently united front against their former boss, whereas the number of Limerick '09 panellists still part of McCarthy's plans for the New Year stretches into double figures.

On the flip side, a quick roll call of the players who have quit in protest underlines the extent of the rebuilding job that now awaits: former All Star 'keeper Brian Murray has left along with Brian Geary, Damien Reale, Seamus Hickey, Donal O'Grady, Wayne McNamara, James O'Brien and James Ryan.

That's before you even factor in some of the high-profile players originally dropped, including Stephen Lucey, Mark Foley, Mark O'Riordan, Niall Moran, Mike O'Brien, Andrew O'Shaughnessy and Donie Ryan.

Sadly, this saga looks set to run and run into the New Year.