On Thursday night last Limerick travelled to Monaghan and lost 1-0 to the home side - that reversal makes it three defeats in-a-row for the Super Blues while Limerick have not scored a goal since beating Athlone Town 2-0 on June 5.
In the intervening weeks Limerick lost to Shelbourne (0-1) and St. Patrick’s Athletic (0-1 - FAI Ford Cup), but the defeat at the hands of a resurgent Monaghan United irritated Pat Scully no end.
“A very poor result, from start to finish the performance of the players was very disappointing,” Pat Scully stressed this week.
“The result was bad and there’s no disputing that fact.
“We just didn’t come back from the (mid-season) break.
“It was a very sloppy, a really poor display. That result was not acceptable and performances like it are not going to get us anywhere. The players were very disappointed with the standard of their performance and the players were let know in no uncertain terms that it just was not good enough. We were hindered a little with injuries, but that’s no excuse.”
With Pat Scully desperately hoping for an improved performance this Friday night his side will have it all to do to earn a positive result against a Wexford Youths team which is brimming with confidence and features two former Super Blues in Peter White and Garry Sheahan.
Last weekend Wexford Youths beat Athlone Town 1-0, their ninth league win of the season, and although Limerick earned a 2-0 win against Wexford earlier this season the Youths’ impressive away wins against UCD (1-0) and Waterford United (2-1) suggest that Mick Wallace’s young side have improved since they last encountered Limerick FC.
“We know that Wexford are a very good team,” admitted Pat Scully.
“Their results have been better than ours this season and that’s no fluke. They’ve strengthened from last season and look a very capable team. It will be a tough game, but we have to learn from last week.
“We need to get back to the way we had been playing.
“When we play well we’re a match for anyone and we should win games, but if we play like we did against Monaghan we won’t ever win a game.
“We need to work hard and earn the right to win games.
“I’m looking for a big reaction from the players on Friday night. How they respond to the Monaghan defeat will tell me a lot about them.”
After a four-game touchline ban, which Pat Scully incurred for an altercation with a referee following Limerick’s nil-all draw with UCD, the Limerick manager will be in a position to goad on his players from the sideline this Friday night.
“It has been very frustrating for the last few weeks not being involved during the games,” added Pat Scully.
“It has been very difficult, but I’m looking forward to getting back on the sideline and hopefully I’ll steer clear of that kind of trouble in the future.”
Although Conor Molan’s international clearance has come through with Molan touted to start against Wexford a raft of injuries still hamper Limerick’s preparations for Friday night. Top scorer Paul Cummins looks like he could miss the remainder of the season with an ankle injury as could Jamie Wunsch (knee). Thomas Lyons is also struggling to shake off a knee complaint while captain Pat Purcell is two to three weeks away from full fitness. Injury will also rule Ian Storan out on Friday night.
To further complicate matters Limerick were dealt a hammer blow with the news that crowd favourite Tommy Barrett is retiring from League of Ireland of football. Although rumours suggest that Barrett will sign for Fairview Rangers in time for the 2009-10 Premier League season that news will offer little consolation to Super Blues supporters.
“Tommy Barrett has retired and he’s a big loss to the squad,” explained Pat Scully.
“He gave me a call before the game against Monaghan United. He has had on-going problems with a knee injury and at times he was even finding it hard to train. He was doing a lot of gym work, but it was getting very difficult for him to get as fit as he would have liked. He really was struggling with a really persistent knee problem. As well as that he was finding it hard with work and so on to make the commitment required.
“We’ve lost him now and it’s a blow we’ll have to try and recover from. I’ve great respect for Tommy.
“He’s a brilliant lad, he’s got great character and he was a real leader on the team. We’ve got to respect Tommy’s decision to leave Limerick and everyone in the club wishes Tommy well for the future.”
The loss of Tommy Barrett and injuries to key players aside Limerick’s lack of goals must now represent a real concern for Pat Scully. The Super Blues have failed to score in three games now and in four of their last five league games. Indeed, Limerick have failed to score in eight of their 16 league games - the Super Blues have also failed to score in five of their eight First Division games at Jackman Park this season.
“Look,” insisted Pat Scully, “I would be more worried if we were not creating chances, but we are.
“Even against Monaghan we still created three or four good goal-scoring chances, but we didn’t take them. I wouldn’t be too critical of the lads playing up front, but we do need to start scoring more goals. We’ve not scored anywhere near enough.
“I genuinely think we’ve got players who can score. Although John Tierney has been hampered by injury he is a proven goal scorer and Shane Clarke has been brilliant since he signed for the club. We’ve been creating plenty of chances and I’ve no doubt that the goals will come. We created chances against Monaghan, UCD, Shels and St. Pat’s, but maybe we lacked a little bit of the killer instinct to put them away. We need to start turning chances into goals and performances into wins.
“I am disappointed with the results, but we’ve been playing better than the results would suggest. We need to reverse that trend as soon as possible. Friday night against Wexford is about wiping the slate clean, starting again, getting a good result and then kicking on from there. We need to be ruthless and I’ve no doubt that we can win it. I’m not happy with the results, but I’m thoroughly enjoying my time here in Limerick.”
Brian McDonnell
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