Reinvigorated Limrick making up for lost time

CASTLEHAVEN defender David Limrick is aiming to put his injury nightmare behind him and grab his first Cork senior football medal in Páirc Uí Chaoimh next Sunday.

Limrick endured an 18-month spell on the sidelines with a knee injury which entailed two different operations, before he was restored to full fitness in time for Castlehaven’s local derby with O’Donovan Rossa in the fourth round of the county SFC in August. The chance to claim silverware will banish the frustration endured by the 2007 All-Ireland U21 winner as he attempted to cure the problem in his right knee.

“I had been having trouble with my right knee for a few years and it was kind of dragging on. It was a constant enough pain and it was catching me on the run. Kicking wasn’t too bad, I don’t kick the ball much in a game anyway, it was just with running that I had problems. I played for the club in a game in February 2010 and that was my last one until I came back for the Skibb game this year.

“I just made a decision to get realignment surgery done on my knee. I got it done down in Waterford with Tadhg O’Sullivan. Unfortunately it didn’t work out too well the first time and I had to go back to him again for more surgery at the end of last year. It was frustrating not playing and having to watch on from the sidelines. But after the last surgery in December I started to make progress and that made it easier as the end was in sight. When I saw the boys winning the first round against Nick’s and playing well, I was more eager to get back into it. Thankfully it’s going well now.”

Limrick got his first taste of senior championship football with the club in 2004 when he linked up with a squad that were carrying the mantle of reigning champions. But having just missed out on that 2003 triumph, he has had to be patient waiting for his chance to secure honours.

“We’re a long time trying to get there since I came on the panel in 2004. I just missed out on 2003 unfortunately and it’s disappointing we haven’t been there more often. Maybe people thought after our county U21 win in 2007 that we’d drive on in senior but it takes a bit of time to come through. We just seem to have a good structure in place this year so hopefully all going well we’ll keep that going.”

Limrick will square up on Sunday to some of the players he soldiered with last year when UCC reached the Sigerson Cup final against DCU with Sean Kiely, current captain of the third-level outfit, amongst his former teammates.

“It’ll be strange going up against Dave and Mark Collins considering we played with them recently,” admits Kiely. “But it’s the same really as Cork teammates playing against each other at club level. We’re not going to let it distract us from the job at hand.”

Twelve months ago Kiely was concentrating on club duties as Macroom lifted the county IFC crown yet he is equally determined now to grasp this senior opportunity.

“It’s different with your club but that’s always going to be the way, it’s always the number one priority for a player. It was fantastic to win the intermediate with Macroom last year when the club hadn’t won a county in 20 years. We’re premier intermediate now but you never know if you’ll get this chance at senior level. A whole generation could go by and I might never again play in a senior final. It’s a great personal honour to be captain.

“You have to seize chances like this and we’re treating it very seriously as it’s a county senior final. I think the Sigerson campaigns have laid the foundations for this success with UCC. The work started last year in getting to the final and then we continued it on by winning the Sigerson this year. It hasn’t been easy this year when our preparations haven’t been great. The Nicks game was probably the best example of that when a lot of us had games before it, we were tired and not feeling great. But fellas didn’t feel sorry for themselves and we managed to scrape through. We’ve built on that since then.”