UCD paid a visit to Jackman Park and were extremely fortunate to walk away with a point following an enthralling nil-all draw.
The Super Blues deserved to win the game and the Students knew it. Leaving the field the then league leaders breathed a sigh of relief while Limerick FC fans sensed a revolution.
That encounter represented Pat Scully’s ninth league game at the helm. Mere days after Scully succeeded Mike Kerley Limerick FC lost to Shelbourne away from home, but in the wake of that defeat the Super Blues only lost once (to Waterford) in eight games.
Then against UCD, a game Limerick should have won, Pat Scully’s side showed they had learnt to compete with the division’s top sides.
Just then the wheels came off. Five key players found themselves injured following the game against UCD and Limerick’s form dipped horribly. Pat Scully’s side have only managed seven points from their last eight league games losing to Mervue United, Shelbourne, Monaghan, Waterford and on Friday night last they were humiliated (4-1) by Sporting Fingal. That disastrous run has left Limerick trailing the league leaders Shelbourne by 23 points and their 2009 season in ruins.
Ten weeks ago Limerick FC laid down a marker that they could compete with the top sides in the division, but on Friday night they, sadly, were humiliated.
Almost at will Sporting Fingal tore a hole in Limerick that you could have driven an eighteen wheeler through.
As the game progressed from bad to worse manager Pat Scully looked upon the exchanges with an increasingly disinterested eye, as if he had just uncovered his plate in a fine restaurant and found a Nutella sandwich. Normally Scully maintains a conspicuous presence on the sideline, but minutes into the second half on Friday night he retreated to the sanctuary of dug out.
“Our defending was awful against (Sporting) Fingal,” explained a disconsolate Pat Scully to Leader Sport.
“It was very embarrassing and the worst night of my managerial career.
“I’m embarrassed for the club, the board and most of all for the supporters. The manner of the defeat was the most galling of all and at one stage it was obvious that we had given up.
“It was a really bad night.
“Four, five and six games ago we were playing well, but we were not taking chances and that was costing us. Now it’s different. Now we’re not defending well and we’re not scoring. We really are performing poorly.”
Pat Scully was expecting a positive reaction to Limerick FC’s defeat at the hands of Waterford United a week previously, but he didn’t get it.
“We didn’t react to the Waterford game,” Pat Scully said.
“We did introduce new players to the team and to be fair the team looked a little dis-jointed. Stephen O’Flynn did well and I think the new lads will be good players for us, but we can’t defend like that and give away goals so easy. They scored their first goal during the first few minutes. They won possession in midfield and had the ball in the back of our net without our lads getting in a single tackle. You just can’t hope to get results performing like that.”
Perhaps now it’s time for Limerick FC to reassess their targets for the season and re-adjust their ambitions downward.
Pat Scully chewed over that question as if it were cud: “Maybe you’re right maybe we need to start again.
“We didn’t set huge targets for the team when I came in. I am disappointed that we didn’t get the results that we should have done. There’s definitely a little bit of adapting to be done. We’re trying to instill a set of standards in the club that will get Limerick out of this division in the near future. Maybe we need time for things to settle down again, but in saying that I am disappointed in myself and in the results. The supporters of the club will look at the results and they have a right to be disappointed, that’s what football is all about.
“We’ve got a good set of lads at the club, they’re very honest and they’re very disappointed with how things are going. They are suffering from a dip in their confidence so now it’s a case of the players needing to keep believing. We need to up our concentration, defend better and score more goals. We’ve come to a point in the season now where we can’t keep saying that we have been unlucky. Against Fingal we were not unlucky, but we have to learn from the defeat.”
Thankfully Limerick’s injury crisis has begun to ease a little with club captain Pat Purcell the most notable addition to training this week.
Meanwhile the Super Blues prepare for an arduous trip to Ballybofey to face Finn Harps next Saturday night.
When the sides met at Jackman Park on May 8 Finn Harps clung on for a one-all draw with next weekend’s clash representing a crucial encounter for both sides.
Like Limerick Finn Harps have failed to win their last three games and in consecutive weeks have lost to Sporting Fingal, Waterford United and most recently Shelbourne.
“Finn Harps is a tough place to go,” admitted manager Pat Scully, “but we have to roll up our sleeves and show everyone, all over again, that we are a good team.”
Brian McDonnell
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