Quane believes Limerick have lessons learnt to test rebels

ANYBODY who was in Croke Park early last Sunday, to witness the better of the two Allianz NFL finals, would readily admit that the best team didn’t triumph.

Quite simply, Westmeath won their joust against Limerick because they were more street-wise. The first Limerick football team to play in Croke Park in almost 30 years distinguished itself up to the point that their experience cost them dearly at the game’s most crucial stage.

That was in the closing minutes after the concession of a goal upset their rhythm and ultimately denied them the chance of taking the Division Two title. That was the summation of team manager Liam Kearns afterwards, when he said: “the goal was a killer. But we had the chances to get back into it.’’

Kearns brought the players together on Monday night, when they viewed a video of the game and saw where mistakes were made. They had a light session, trained on Wednesday night and will come together again this evening. The management now hope that the experience gained can work to their advantage in Pairc Uí Chaoimh next Sunday in the opening game in the Bank of Ireland Munster SFC.

John Quane, a regular for the past 12 years and a member of the Irish squad for the 1999 International Series in Australia, knew what to expect when the players came together at the start of the week.

“We were disappointed all right, because we felt we left the game behind us. It was all down to a few costly mistakes,’’ he commented. “We could have thrown over a few points, but we went for goals and it kind of cost us the game.’’

Facing Cork in the championship a week after their League decider was always going to be difficult. And, while the SFC has been the primary focus all along, the circumstances of their loss to Westmeath aren’t easy to banish.

“We’d be hoping we are over it. We had a good chat about it. It would be different if it was a game we thought we shouldn’t have won, but we really thought we should have. At this stage, we’d be hoping that the attitude will be right and that we will have forgotten about it,’’ he added.

“All along the focus was the Cork game. What we did in the League was a bonus once we got promotion.’’

Quane made his senior championship debut in 1990 and in the interim period he has lined out in four games against Cork.

“They beat us fairly handy most times. But, three years ago we had a good chance in Kilmallock. We were only a point down with about ten minutes to go and we left in a soft goal. Cork went on to win by seven or eight points.

“We thought on the night that we had a good chance, but that was the nearest we got to causing an upset in my time.’’

He recognises that Cork have a much more experienced squad, suggesting that their bad game in the All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry last season was ‘probably just a once-off.’

“They’re a fairly solid looking team and Cork at home will be very hard for us to beat. But in saying that, we feel that we have to do something in the championship. It’s what it is all about.’’

Quane is optimistic about Limerick’s prospects and he believes that there are genuine grounds for such optimism, arguing that the current team is better than the side which lost to Kerry last year.

“This is a new team and I’d say it’s probably the best prepared we have been for championship. We have a stronger panel. A few younger lads came in, we have something on the bench to bring on and the likes of Jason Stokes are playing better.’’

The players, each and every one realise that they face a major challenge. Quite apart from the quality of football which Cork are capable of producing, the Limerick players cannot allow themselves to be distracted by what happened in Croke Park.

“When we watched the video we saw where mistakes were made. Fellows will improve. It’s all about keeping the head when the pressure comes on!

“Hopefully, we’ll learn from that. Hopefully we will give a good account of ourselves.’’