Limerick expect, Kerry respect the challengers

THE last thing you’d expect Liam Kearns to say is that Limerick are in a more advantageous position going into Sunday’s Bank of Ireland Munster football final, now that Kerry won’t have Seamus Moynihan or Declan O’Sullivan.

And, of course he didn’t say it when the question was put to him at the press conference in Dublin yesterday, joking that 108 years of history (since the county’s sole success in the championship) would show that it would be “very easy to achieve”. On a serious note, his response was intriguing: “You’d like to think you’d win anyway,’’ he commented, indicating a confident approach irrespective of the circumstances.

“You’d like to think you’d beat the best team that comes out,’’ he said, conceding that Seamus Moynihan and Declan O’Sullivan would be big losses to any team. Kearns said that at a personal level, it was a disaster for the two players. On the other hand, he reminded people that Limerick topped their division in the league and got to the semi-final without the assistance of John Galvin, Jason Stokes, Diarmuid Sheehy and several others. And, Brian Begley has missed the entire year.

Jack O’Connor concedes that Sunday’s game represents a much sterner test than their NFL semi-final meeting with Limerick earlier in the year. He is quick to recall how close Kearns’ team came to winning in Killarney last year, a game he attended as a spectator.

“They started very well in last year’s Munster final. They’ll be hoping for a similar start on Sunday, so our fellows will just have to match that intensity.’’

“Our most recent experience was in the league semi-final. It was level with five minutes to go and it took a fairly heroic performance from our fellows to pull that game back from the brink. One of the sad things is that one of the guys who did it almost single-handedly that day was Moynihan. His loss will be felt by us on Sunday.’’

It was put to the Limerick manager that his team gained a numerical advantage in that game after Darragh Ó Sé was sent off and Declan O’Sullivan suffered an early injury - and still lost. His reply was that it wasn’t the first time a team had been beaten by 14 men and he didn’t believe his team would suffer any scars as a consequence.

Without dropping his guard, Jack O’Connor still managed to sound confident about the outcome of Sunday’s game. “I just feel that our fellows have the bit between their teeth this year. Any challenge that has been put in front of them they have managed to overcome, in the league against Cork, Dublin and Tyrone - and in our two championship outings so far.’’

Kerry certainly give the impression of being more settled, more united and more focused. O’Connor points out that Pat Flanagan’s training regime has been refreshing and says that he can’t speak highly enough of the attitude of the players

“I see something in the team this year. They have a lot of resolve.

And, there’s no danger of underestimating the challenge they face. “I honestly feel this is the kind of test we need,’’ he adds. “It’s as tough as you are going to get. Very few teams have beaten Limerick in Limerick in the last couple of years.’’

In outlining his approach from the beginning, he says that he didn’t put a big emphasis on changing the team style, explaining that his general philosophy is to try to get players to work very hard for each other. And, he was prepared to admit that ‘maybe’ it was that simple - that Kerry weren’t working as hard as they could have worked in the last couple of years.

“A lot of that comes down to hunger and desire. It’s not about style. I haven’t set about to deliberately change Kerry’s style. We want to play good attractive football the same as Kerry teams have done down through the years.

“You have to be adaptable, there are days when you can go for the long ball and other days when you can’t. It’s a matter of giving players responsibility to think on their feet.’’

Kearns rejected the suggestion that it might be a case of ‘now or never’ for his team. He acknowledged that they are under a bit more pressure to win at the second attempt. “I suppose we do need to win. ‘Now or never’ is a bit strong. I’d be hoping that, when the average age is 24, they’d have a few more chances. I don’t say this is a defining game for them, but certainly we have to win a final at some stage along the road and it is coming close to that stage. “We’re going in to win this match, as simple as that. It’s time to win it and it would do an awful lot for the development of this team and football in the county.