Horan not dreaming yet as Limerick bid to get back on track

While they reached Munster football finals in 2003, ’04, ’09, and ’10, last year was the first time Limerick managed to reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

The Shannonsiders begin their 2012 qualifier campaign with a trip to Longford today but, for manager Maurice Horan, any dreams of another appearance in the last eight are far from his mind.

“Obviously, the All-Ireland quarter-finals are a long way away at the moment,” he said.

“I’m aware that it’s a cliché but you have to take every game as it comes, it’s championship football, you’re going to be in or out after Saturday so you can’t be looking further down the road, that would be a mistake.”

Limerick find themselves here after losing to Clare in the Munster semi-final. The long wait since June 9 and now could be viewed as an advantage or disadvantage, and Horan is aware of the pitfalls.

“We’ve had five weeks. There was definitely a mourning period of a week or 10 days afterwards and it takes time to get back on track.

“That’s what we’ve tried to do over the past three weeks, trying to get good-quality training sessions and gear ourselves up for this.

“We only found out who were playing not too long ago, we were about three weeks in limbo waiting to find out our opposition.

“We had small concerns with Ian Ryan and Ger Collins and one or two others but they’ve all come through, we’re not worried about any of those guys.”

The last time the sides met in competitive football, Limerick won by 1-8 to 0-9 in the league in 2010, en route to promotion from Division 4.

After immediate relegation, they find themselves back in the bottom tier, while Longford, after two consecutive promotions, will play in Division 2 in 2013.

Horan knows his opponents’ momentum will have to be countered.

“It’s a tough draw, Longford have one of the best records of any team in the country, they’ve only lost one competitive match all year, so they’re on the crest of a wave.

“I think they’ll be really looking forward to it, any time you’re winning matches it’s a great feeling.

“Last year, what we experienced in the qualifiers gave us a great lift, our first win against Offaly raised the boats.

“They [Longford] would have been disappointed after losing to Wexford following a replay but to get back on track by beating a good team like Derry was a great lift.

“A win in the qualifiers is such a boost, it papers over all the cracks and gets things back on track, it’s the quickest antidote to feeling down or whatever.”

By the same token, however, Limerick and Horan know that just one win will get them back on course as well.

“We don’t feel the Clare game is an accurate reflection of us, we only played for 35 minutes,” he said.

“Hopefully our lads will be anxious to prove that they are better than that and will go out and play with a bit of abandon.

“We can’t dwell on the fact that we got beaten by Clare, we have to look forward to the fact that we’re playing Longford in the qualifiers. We’re still in the championship and a lot of teams would love to be in the same position.”