The Limerick county board executive was meeting late last night to consider its response to senior hurling manager Eamon Cregan's announcement that he was stepping down.

Cregan himself declined to discuss the matter until he had received a response from the county board. "I have no comment to make at the moment," he said, adding that he would be making a statement "within the next 48 hours".

The shock news of Cregan's decision to step down emerged yesterday when a letter he had written at the weekend was delivered to the county board. "We have received a letter saying that he has resigned with immediate effect," said county PRO Denis O'Carroll.

At the heart of the difficulties between Cregan and the county board is the question of dual players. Limerick's historical success in winning the Munster football title at under-21 level two years ago went hand-in-hand with the county's double All-Ireland triumph at the same level in hurling. This has meant that Limerick has had for the first time a number of dual players with a successful underage track record.

Although Cregan has consistently expressed the opinion that there is no room in the modern game for dual players and that everyone should make up their mind which code they are playing, some players have opted to maintain a dual career.

Stephen Lucey and Conor Fitzgerald have been the two most prominent and both played for the county footballers in the Allianz Football League at the weekend, a day before the Limerick hurlers defeated Wexford in the hurling League.

A further problem for Cregan has been the stance of the county board, which has upheld the players' right to opt for dual careers. This has been exacerbated by the revelation that some of Cregan's selectors have also differed from his approach.

"The Management (Committee) have gone against him," according to O'Carroll, "and there's no point in hiding that maybe a majority of his selectors have gone with the county committee on this."

Last night on RTÉ television, county chairman Donie Fitzgibbon reiterated the board's support for players wishing to represent the county at both football and hurling.

It is believed that the county board had grown impatient with Cregan's public airing of his views on the subject and that matters came to a head when he was criticised at an executive meeting for continuing to give interviews on the subject.

There is an irony here, in that the Limerick hurling management had themselves decided to restrict media access to players this season.

Now in his fifth year in charge of the senior hurlers, Cregan appeared in the last year to have helped Limerick turn the corner. When he took over the team, he had a rebuilding job to do in the wake of the two All-Irelands lost by the county in 1994 (ironically to an Offaly side managed by Cregan) and 1996 (to Wexford).

Last May, Limerick defeated defending Munster champions Cork and Waterford before running Tipperary very close in the provincial final. The season was to end disappointingly with unexpected defeat by Wexford in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

But the Allianz Hurling League to date has been encouraging and the county is well placed to make the play-offs.

Meanwhile Cregan's predecessor Tom Ryan urged the county board to initiate conciliation talks to sort out the controversy. Ryan, whose own tenure ended in controversy after winning the League in 1997, drew attention to the litany of messy terminations that have characterised the job.

"We have a habit of shooting ourselves in the foot . . . There was Liam O'Donoghue, Phil Bennis, myself and now Cregan. Limerick had played some very positive hurling in recent weeks and got three very good results. I cannot understand why they should allow a man of his calibre to walk away."

Should the current controversy prove intractable, Limerick will be looking for a new manager. It was speculated that such a successor was being discussed at last night's meeting. The favourite would probably be David Keane, the Corkman who has led the Limerick under-21s to back-to-back All-Irelands.