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.