Kearns quits and says it’s time for fresh ideas

THIS wasn’t the way he wanted it to end. Ideally, there would have been a Munster title to show for the six years of Trojan toil that has made Limerick football a respected force.

It certainly wasn’t meant to end after a non-descript game in Castlebar.

Things don’t always work out, though. Liam Kearns told the Limerick dressing-room that it would be better if fresh ideas came on board. It was an emotional moment. The Limerick managerhas moulded most of these footballers from under-age and most don’t know any other manager at county level.

“This is a good bunch of footballers and a great bunch of guys, but after six years I think it is time to go and let someone come in with fresh ideas,” Kearns said. “Basically, with the exception maybe of John Quane, this is a young team.

“People have said we don’t have the forwards, and maybe two points from play tells it own story. But I would like nothing better to see someone come in and work with this team and win that elusive Munster title. The players gave it their all this year and maybe at the moment we are just that bit off the big boys.”

Kearns was understandably despondent. His team never really got going in McHale Park. There was real optimism that these footballers could express themselves with a prolonged journey on the championship back-roads. But their reward for their exhibition in Carlow was to meet the best team left in the qualifiers.

“Paddy Bradley gave an exhibition of point-scoring in the second half,” Kearns said.

“One of his scores from the side-line was tremendous. But we never really made the wind count in the first half and when we went in 0-6 to 0-4 down, we were always up against it.

“When we brought it back level, I thought if we get another score, we would have a real chance in the last 15 minutes. But Derry showed their quality in pulling away. It was just a disappointing day.”

And a disappointing end to Kearns’ reign. Over the past six years, he has taken a Munster under-21 title back to Limerick and taken Kerry right to the brink on a few occasions. Perhaps their inability to finish Kerry off when they had placed them on the rack a few times will define his time in charge. But it shouldn’t. He has made players want to play football for Limerick. That deserves to be his legacy.

While Kearns contemplated a year away from county football, his counterpart was contemplating a long summer. None of the four teams in the other drum next Sunday will be wishing for Derry.

“We are improving all the time, this was just another step on the way,” Mickey Moran said after praising Kearns for his job with Limerick.

“Our performance was patchy at times, but we got the scores when we needed to. And we showed character. It hasn’t been easy with all the injuries, but the team certainly showed character out there.”

Barry Gillis, the Derry keeper who stopped a certain Seanie Buckley goal early in the second half, feels this game might be the start of another roller-coaster summer for his team.

“We only played well in spells out there,” the keeper said. “But last year it took only one or two wins under our belt to get a bit of momentum going and this is the type of game that might gather momentum.”