Kearns: we’re ready to give Kerry one serious test

TWELVE months on and Liam Kearns’ ambition of leading Limerick to their second Munster final in a row has been achieved.

As in 2003 his native county of Kerry will again provide the opposition, but Kearns is determined there will be no repeat of last year when his side went down by five points in Killarney.

He is convinced it will be different, even allowing for the fact that Kerry are league champions and decisively defeated Cork in the semi-final.

“Last year we went to Killarney and didn’t play. We don’t intend to make the same mistake”, said Kearns.

“Kerry rocked us with the ferocity of their challenge in that final which surprised us. But in the recent league semi-final we returned the compliment. In their championship semi-final against Cork, Kerry produced a steely performance and we’ll have to be ready for more of the same.”

The Limerick boss believes that his squad has matured over the past year, and are progressing along the path which he has set out for them.

“We’ve matured a lot over the last 12 months. We topped Division One of the league, got to the semi-final, and played a number of games always short a couple of players through injury. They’ve all cleared up now, and we will have three players available who didn’t play in the league semi-final against Kerry. That’s going to be a big plus.

“It has taken us five years to get to this point. When I first started we hardly have 15 players up to the required standard, but through sheer hard work we now have a panel of around 21 - anyone of whom could be on the team from the start.

“When you consider we had players of the calibre of Stephen Kelly, Jason Stokes, Stephen Lavin and Diarmuid Sheedy on the bench last Sunday, it gives you some idea of how far we’ve come. The biggest problem we have now is trying to keep every player happy. They all want to play. Fortunately the modern game is a 20-man affair which is helpful to selectors.

“Another plus for us is that we are a more experienced outfit now. You could say we’ve served our apprenticeship and it’s now time to start winning some silverware. In all probability it’s John Quane’s last year and I would love to win the provincial title for his sake. He has been a very loyal servant of Limerick football. A win would open up all sorts of avenues for this group of players. If you take Quane out of it, the average age is 24 years and if this group of players is kept together and nurtured along, I could see them going on to win a couple more over the next five years.

“The first one is always the hardest however. The 2003 final was a year too soon for us, but I feel we are ready now. We are going to give it one serious rattle and what ever way Kerry want to play it we will cope .

“This is an opportunity to put Limerick football on the map once and for all, but we need everybody working in unison and everything to go right on the day.”

Looking back to Sunday’s triumph over Waterford, Kearns said he was delighted at the way the players applied themselves from the throw-in.

“The instruction going out was to have the game won by half time and in fairness to them they did that. Even allowing for the poor quality of the opposition, you have to be pleased with the way they played particularly in the first-half.

“Kerry will be a very different opponents in the final however, but we have a month to get ready. We have achieved the goal we set ourselves at the beginning of the year, to get back to the Munster final again.

“The fixtures have given us another home final, and if we learn from last year’s mistakes, we’ll have no excuses if we are beaten on this occasion.”