Mickey Ned: It all boils down to one man

AT the close of 2007, there was an unmistakable sense that the Limerick footballers were starting to retreat into the shadows.

After a golden era which yielded two Munster final appearances in 2003 and 2004, Limerick’s ability to consistently challenge the Munster football aristocrats of Kerry and Cork was starting to wane. The 2007 championship had been a dispiriting experience with a 13-point thumping by Cork ending their provincial interest and Louth bringing their All-Ireland qualifier adventure to a halt at the first hurdle.

But from the precipice they’ve righted themselves. Last year saw shoots of recovery. In Munster they ran Cork all the way to the finish tape and should have breasted it first, before blitzing Meath in a madcap fashion 4-12 to 4-3 in the All-Ireland series.

This season they have continued that progress, methodically working their way through provincial assignments against Tipperary and Clare and returning to the grandeur of Munster final day next Sunday.

Mickey Ned O’Sullivan may be Limerick’s managerial figurehead but when he is probed for the reasons behind the revival, he showers the bouquets elsewhere.

“The reason we’re competing boils down to one man who won’t say a word to you [the press]: Donie Buckley. He’s the coach, and in my opinion he’s the best in the country. He has enormous respect from the players and my two selectors, and he has done great work the last two years.

“But there are a lot of other people: there is the medical backroom, there are the guys in charge of equipment, they are here every night; the guys in charge of stats, the water guys. If one of those don’t perform you’re going to go down. I’m only the coordinator but if you ask me to pick out any one, I’d say Donie Buckley. I don’t like picking anyone out, but the players will say that as well.”

Buckley’s influence aided their development last year, but O’Sullivan still felt returning to the helm this season that there was scope for change. He swept the detritus out of the panel and opted to refresh the set-up.

“We decided to come back before the draw was made and we made that very clear to the players. Regardless of what way the draw was going, we felt there was more in the team, and they didn’t realise it last year.

“I think we have more options this year. Joe Reddington and Paddy Ives are selectors and they went out to all of the club games over last summer and picked out lads. We cleaned out the bench, we brought in a new bench and they are all fighting for positions now; these are guys that are on the way up.”

The conflict surrounding players juggling different codes has also been successfully resolved. The issue of players having a dual mandate has been a vexing issue in Limerick GAA over the last decade, with the footballers primarily being the ones to lose out. Crucially this season O’Sullivan has managed to pick from a full deck. Stephen Lucey and Mark O’Riordan swap their time between the hurling and football squads, Stephen Kelly was permitted to pursue his AIL career with Shannon throughout the spring, and youngster Cormac Joyce-Power was lured away from Munster rugby.

“When I came first, I was probably a bit hot-headed and I wouldn’t play ball that way,” admits O’Sullivan. “But you have to be realistic and you say look, Kelly is a talented forward. I would pay tribute to Justin McCarthy in the way he handled the dual situation. I discussed it with him and he gave me all the reasons why it wouldn’t work. But he said he’d try it for a month and I never heard from Justin since, which was great because there was a mutual respect.

“The player hadn’t to be burned out and we were both sympathetic to the player. It has worked to date, and I’m the only beneficiary in it. Justin isn’t; he’d much prefer if they weren’t playing football, but I mean having the likes of Stephen and Mark Riordan on a panel, they’ve been there and done that, they’ve played at the highest level in hurling. Their attitude is important.

“With Cormac Joyce-Power, we helped him to get into college and get a scholarship, and we put in good words in various places. That’s the bottom line: an education is important for any young lad of 18 years of age. It’s important for his parents and Munster (Rugby) couldn’t guarantee him that. Maybe that’s the way we have to go.”

THE PRAGMATIST in O’Sullivan still comes to the fore. He was left awestruck by Cork’s semi-final demolition of Kerry and knows that Limerick are long-odds outsiders on Sunday. But he’s enjoyed his 2009 experience with Limerick and has a giddy anticipation of the challenge ahead.

“I’m probably enjoying football more than ever because the lads you are working with have no egos. They are playing it because they love football and want to improve. Being involved with a totally committed and honest group, there is no better satisfaction. At the beginning of the year when we saw the draw we knew that either Clare, Tipp or ourselves would be in the final. We felt we had every chance but subsequently Tipp went ahead of us on the TAM ratings!

“Cork wrote off Kerry in the replay and we know it’s a big challenge. They appeared in four of the last five U21 All-Ireland finals. That’s an amazing conveyor belt when you consider we haven’t gone past the first round. These are facts, but it’s 15 against 15. It’s a game of passion, not it isn’t a game of logic. Sunday will be a benchmark of how far we have to go and how far we’ve come.”