Loughnane telephoned the County Board Chairman Michael McDonagh to make known his displeasure about the awards. He confirmed that he used colourful terms to describe his annoyance. Loughnane made the call on speakerphone and forgot to hang up properly afterwards. He then called his friend Dr. Colum Flynn on his mobile phone. Flynn was the Clare hurling team's physical therapist at the time and believed he was being undermined by the team management, then under the stewardship of Anthony Daly. Loughnane detailed to Flynn how he'd imagined shooting a certain person's head (reported by The Star newspaper to be Fr. Harry Bohan) that was on top of an oil can while out hunting. Heavy breathing emanating from the speakerphone alerted Loughnane to the fact that he failed to terminate the call to McDonagh, who is a member of the Garda Síochána. McDonagh then reported the matter to the Gardaí.