While the Blues were conceding four goals at home to Longford, UCD were moving to second in the league table, thanks to an eye-catching 1-0 away win over Waterford United.
Strangely though, inconsistent Limerick FC seem to have developed an uncanny ability to produce a big performance immediately after a very poor one.
In the wake of their recent 4-1 home defeat to Sporting Fingal, Pat Scully’s charges registered a plucky 2-1 away win over struggling Finn Harps in Ballybofey.
Scully is looking for his young squad to show some steely resolve in their fixture with UCD this Friday night: “We have to improve. We are too weak and too soft when things go against us. We have some young players, but young players can do a bit more fighting.
“I remember four years ago when I had to come down here to Limerick as a manager and a player with Shamrock Rovers, it was physically very demanding to get anything from the game. Physically we are a very, very small team now. We don’t have much running power in the team. And at the minute when teams get on top of us we are folding.
“We have done it now on a few occasions, but it goes back to the same thing, the amount of chances we have had, compared to the number Longford had. We probably had double the number of chances, but we did not force their goalkeeper into making a save.
“We missed the target. We have done that all the way through the season and it has cost us.
“As I said to the players last week, we had a great opportunity to go close to that promotion play-off place. I would have thought that we would be seven or eight points off that third spot and we should be given the amount of games we have thrown away. We have been sloppy.
“When things are going well and you are winning every week, football is the easiest game to play in the world. When things are going bad you see whether people stand up and fight for it or they don’t.
“It is extremely disappointing, but we haven’t got any real consistency.
“There have been times when we have played well, but we haven’t consistently got results.
“When we have gone out and played, we have played very well. We are a decent team.
“This is a harsh time for the players, but they have to come out the other end. These are the things that make footballers.
“It has been very, very frustrating, very difficult, but I am really enjoying it. I believe I will get the club where I want it to go.”
Scully was adamant that he would not allow the players to simply go through the motions over the remainder of the season now that their promotion hopes had evaporated: “We have been out of the promotion play-off race for a few weeks now, realistically.
“But I won’t let any players go through the motions between now and the end of the season.
“These are not nice times, but these are times when players will learn and improve. This is how you improve your character.
“We have some young players who are only 18 or 19. For a lot of them this is their first or second season playing in the league.
“These tough times are the times when it is important they can show they can come through it.
“In a season you will always have ups and downs. A lot of things have gone against us. We have had a couple of players leaving and other bits and pieces which have happened.
“To change the culture and mentality of the football club is difficult. It is probably the hardest thing to do and to do it mid-season is even more difficult, but I think we will be fine.”
Scully will be sweating on the fitness of club captain Pat Purcell in the lead up to the clash with UCD.
“Pat (Purcell) still has a little bit of a problem with his knee. With the two lads leaving last week we needed a centre half and we had to play him against Longford,” Pat Scully said.
“He got the first half, but there was a little bit of a twinge, so we thought it best to take Pat off at half time.
“We will have to see how it goes during the week to see if we have Pat available for the UCD game.”
Colm Kinsella
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