Judgement day for Limerick

BACK in the final week of January, Mickey Ned O’Sullivan laid his cards on the table when speaking ahead of the start of the 2009 season.
As he entered his fourth year at the helm in Limerick, it was championship or bust.


“The one goal that we have this year is the first round of the championship against Tipperary,” stressed O’Sullivan, when previewing the new season with Leader Sport.
“The way it is, the only way we will be judged is on the championship”.
Almost four months have passed and its time for the Limerick senior footballers to be judged when they meet Tipperary in the quarter-final of the Munster senior football championship in Semple Stadium Thurles this Sunday (3.30pm).
If Limerick can repeat last season’s success over the Premier County, a provincial semi-final against Clare awaits in Ennis on June 7.
While defeat cannot be contemplated, if all does go horribly wrong, Limerick would enter the All-Ireland Qualifiers in round one on July 4.
Over the spring Limerick and Tipperary had very different league campaigns - Limerick were relegated from Division Three while outsiders Tipperary were crowned champions.
While Tipp emerged from the NFL on an upward curve, Limerick’s management and players were certainly under pressure. Still the bookies have marked up Limerick as 10/11 favourites with John Evans’ side available at 11/10.
Limerick have won the last two championship meetings between the sides - 2004 & 2008. While Tipp football is on an upward curve, they have not won a match in the provincial championship in six years - they’ve won just two games and drawn two from 14 Munster Championship matches in the past 10 years and have lost seven out eight qualifiers during the same period.
For Sunday’s game Mickey Ned O’Sullivan, Joe Redington and Paddy Ivess have handed a championship debut to teenager Cormac Joyce-Power. Also included for the first time since 2005 are dual players Stephen Lucey and Mark O’Riordan, while Jason Stokes also makes a return to the inter-county scene.
The Limerick team shows seven changes from the side that lined out against Tipperary last season. In an unusual looking selection, there are many questions as to the exact line-up of the Limerick side which appears to be physically strong.
It appears that the defence will play as selected, although Shane Gallagher could be at the edge of the square in a swap with Johnny McCarthy. This duo could be key in dealing with Tipperary attacking duo Brian Coen and Barry Grogan. Further up the field it appears that Stephen Lucey will start in midfield with Jim O’Donovan - leaving John Galvin and Jason Stokes to fill the central attacking roles.
Indeed this quartet are likely to inter-change throughout the 70 minutes in an effort to maintain freshness in the middle of the park where it is critical that Limerick dominate against George Hannigan and Brian Jones.
In attack all scoring threats appear to rest on the shoulders of Ian Ryan, Ger Collins and captain Seanie Buckley.
It is key that under-21 players Ryan and Collins are kept as close to goal as possible if Limerick are to profit from a direct ball to a targetman at full-forward.
Since the league ended on April 12, Donie Buckley has had the necessary time to work with the panel on the training field. Reports from challenge games against Wexford and Roscommon were not overly encouraging, but still Limerick can and must win on Sunday.
The most basic requirment will be that Limerick match the hunger and work ethic of John Evans’ well drilled Tipperary side. Sunday’s game in Thurles will be only the third ever meeting of the sides in Semple Stadium in championship fare.
Admission is by payment at the turnstiles - adult price is €20, students and senior citizens €10. Under-16s will be admitted free of charge and all juveniles will be issued with a free flag.
Limerick’s Live 95FM will carry full live commentary with former Limerick senior football captain Tommy Stack joining Liam Aherne in the commentary box.
On the Munster GAA website, the game will be followed by a match-tracker with up to the minute updates of every score and incident.

Limerick Team: Sean Kiely; Shane Gallagher, Johnny McCarthy, Mark O’Riordan; Padraig Browne, Stephen Lavin, Pa Ranahan; Jim O’Donovan, John Galvin; Stephen Lucey, Ian Ryan, Seanie Buckley (capt); Cormac Joyce-Power, Jason Stokes, Ger Collins. Subs: Conor Ranahan, Mike Crowley, Lorcan O’Dwyer, Thomas Cahill, Kieran O’Callaghan, Bobby O’Brien, Andrew Lane, Dermot Phelan, Eoin Hogan, Gary Egan, Diarmuid Carroll, Maurice Carrig, Conor Mullane, Jimmy Barry Murphy, John Mullane.

Jerome O’Connell