Limerick football - 1 step forward, 2 steps back

grenache

Last December i was really looking forward to this years championship. There were a few reasons for this. Drom-Broadford had become only the second Limerick side to bring home the Munster Club Championship. In doing so, they had beaten the most decorated club side of all time, Nemo Rangers and Kilmurry/Ibrickane, who were Munster champions in 2004. This surely would give football on Shannonside the boost it was looking for? Limericks good displays in the 2008 championship also gave me reasons to be hopeful, our performances against Cork and Meath in particular showed that when we show a little bit of belief we are a match for most teams in the country. This allied to the return to the panel of the hurling contingent (Mark O'Riordan, Stephen Lucey, Conor Fitzgerald) and the abolishment of the seedings for Cork and Kerry meant that i really thought we had a great chance to challenge for Munster honours this year. How wrong i was!

Drom get hammered by Crossmaglen in the semi final and were shown up to be rather pedestrian in the process - granted they were playing against the most experienced club side of the last 10 years. Limerick's form in Division 3 has been nothing but a shambles, they go from the highs of out-playing Down to losing to the worst Offaly team in 50 years. Had they shown any bit of consistency (they had the talent to do so) they would have easily finished in the top 2 and that should have been their aim. Being in Division 4 is an absolute disaster, and although it is not a true representation of their talent, like Clare in the hurling, they deserve nothing more. Mickey Ned has had four years at the helm now, the young lads like Seanie Buckley, Ian Ryan and Ger Collins have come through now and joined the older heads like John Galvin and Stephen Lavin. There is no excuse left. We have on paper, a good enough team to challenge Cork or Kerry this year, however with Tipps emergence from the footballing wilderness i'm now beginning to think that its them who will be the main challengers. Its up to Mickey Ned & co to prove me wrong. I watched them a couple of times this year, including last Saturday against Down in the Division 3 final, they are a very handy side, playing at the peak of their game.

Last December, Limerick football was looking good and Tipp football was in the doldrums - what a difference 5 months can make.

Declan30

Grenache . Good Post . The 5 months since December has seen a huge Turnaround in both Limerick and Tipperary's Football Fortunes.
However I still do Believe we will make it to the Munster Final.
Reason being the Only League game that we lost Badly was the opening Game against Louth.
Having been at the game it was clear that the team was weeks off fitness and sharpness.
If you Look at the rest for the league Games. Lost by only 1pt to Cavan, and Tipperary won against Roscommon ,Down and Longford.
Game Against Offaly we threw away with a terrible first half there was no way we could make up the 10pts Difference.
Looking at it as well Mickey Ned Has not played anywhere near a settled team in any game.
We seem to have Midfield Sorted and backs are fine plenty to choose from .
Forwards are our problem are we have probably only 2 scoring forwards in Ian Ryan and Ger Collins. Not sure how we can rectify this now with just 3 weeks to go to Tipp Game.
As I said I still think our experience and a better settled Team on the 24th of may and we will win against Tipp.

Browney7

I don't think I'd call the league a shambles to be honest. We still won three games and were unlucky to go down I feel with scoring difference being our undoing.

I wouldn't fear Tipp too much. Sure we were undone by a last minute goal against Tipp in Killmallock and they won't be taking Tipp for granted now.

hopefully we will have a day out in the sun in Cork or Killarney come the first week in July.

soccymonster

as everyone says, the league means nothing, once the championship comes around.!
Hope to see ye at munster final '09:D
Limerick vs. Kerry/Cork
hope it happens, it would be great for limerick football if it did

grenache

Browney7 wrote: »

I don't think I'd call the league a shambles to be honest. We still won three games and were unlucky to go down I feel with scoring difference being our undoing.

I wouldn't fear Tipp too much. Sure we were undone by a last minute goal against Tipp in Killmallock and they won't be taking Tipp for granted now.

With respect, i do think it was a shambles. I expected us to capitalise on the momentum from last year, not finishing in the top 2 would have been disappointing. So actually being relegated is a total disaster. Yes we won 3 games, but thats not saying much if you get beaten by Tipp, Cavan and Offaly. We also struggled to put away Roscommon and Longford and did our very best to gift the game to Down! The team still doesn't know how to see a game out. There's been so many times in the last 3 seasons when they have been in a winning position with 10 or 15 mins to go, for example a 4 point lead. And they just throw it away. Even when they hammered Meath, they still gave them 4 goals in the last 12 mins. Until we sort out that brittleness, we'll go nowhere!