Will Limerick FC miss Mike Kerley?

I think the club will. The 36-year-old manager never had much time for me, correction the 36-year-old man who played Eircom League football for 16 years and who resigned as Limerick FC supremo on Thursday night never had much time for the press.
The very first time I talked to Mike Kerley, on the occasion of his appointment as manager (round this time last year); he was impatient and obviously wasn’t too interested in making my job any easier. I liked him immediately.

Here was a man who meant business, a man who meant to take Limerick FC places.
Once Limerick got going last season, once Kerley got the players fit and playing the way he expected them to play, the Super Blues were irrepressible - from the half-way point of the season Limerick were the best side in the division.
And, that is what makes Kerley’s departure all the sadder. Last season was like watching an emerging painter at work on his first, unmistakable masterpiece. When the 2008 Eircom League season concluded Mike Kerley had just finished the preliminary sketch. Limerick were now playing composed, confident football and we couldn’t wait for the 2009 campaign. That campaign kicks off in two weeks time against UCD. That was the time, on the back of a decent pre-season, that we expected Kerley to mix the colours on the palette and see whether the first draft might sustain deeper dimensions.
Then, bang, Mike Kerley resigns for whatever reason and we’re left . . . well what are we left with?

Brian McDonnell