Time for Limerick football to step out of shadows
To those not au fait with matters Munster club football, the Limerick senior champions have not scored a provincial championship victory since Dromcollogher-Broadford’s 0-6 to 0-5 win over Kilmurry Ibrickane in the 2008 Munster final.
The Clare outfit reversed the result when these two teams clashed in Quilty in the winter of ’09, setting in train a six-year losing run for the Limerick representatives.
Pressure then rests with Quilligan’s Newcastle West outfit to buck the trend of recent seasons when they travel to Clonmel for tomorrow’s Munster quarter-final (2pm).
“Without a question of a doubt, we expect to win Munster,” says the Newcastle West manager.
“That is not because we think we are the best team in Munster, we don’t know the other teams from Adam, but there is no point going into a competition unless you intend to win it. We don’t like losing challenges, much less Munster championship games.
“If we win Munster, we will expect to win the All-Ireland. That is how we look at this.
“It means absolutely nothing to me that Limerick teams haven’t won a club game in Munster in the past six years. I really don’t care if it was the Cork champions or the Kerry champions that we were playing on Sunday.
“It doesn’t matter. It is irrelevant. I never bought into the Corks or Kerry thing. It is a handy excuse for Limerick teams that they are not expected to win in Munster.”
Quilligan was part of the 1987 county-winning Newcastle West team who were faced with similar tales of woe when beginning their Munster journey.
It didn’t bother him then, just as it doesn’t bother him now.
“Going into Munster that year, we were told how very few Limerick clubs had won a match in Munster. Certainly, no Limerick team had ever reached the Munster football final. We beat Doonbeg in the quarter-final and we beat Loughmore-Castleiney in the semi-final.
“We were nothing special and yet we went all the way to a Munster final where we were beaten by Nemo Rangers. Every footballer has two arms and two legs. They’re all the same. This lame excuse that you are from Limerick or this rubbish that Limerick hasn’t won in so many years, that is only hiding in the bushes.
“I have belief in my players. They are a good, honest bunch of lads.
“If you beat us, you will earn it. And I really don’t care where you are from.” Is this an attitude shared by his players?
“They wouldn’t be there if they didn’t hold the same view. They were back training on the Thursday after the county final win and there was no sense that we were now in bonus territory. These lads have put in a pile of work. It is a very young squad and they want to progress as far as they can.”
Indeed, the mood in the club couldn’t be better ahead of tomorrow’s contest with Tipperary champions Clonmel Commercials. Added to their senior crown achieved at the expense of Dromcollogher-Broadford a fortnight back, U16 and minor county titles have been secured in recent weeks. Their future is strong.
“We have always been good at underage and have always been able to do it at underage. We seemed to lose our way at senior. The club has a pile of work done over the past few years. There is good foundations set. We are not surprised at all by the success.
“We probably should have pulled two more senior county titles in 2011 and 2012. We lost one in a replay and the other by four. We lost in 2004 as well [Quilligan was manager for all three]. The players were knocking on the door the whole time. Pushing it over the line was the problem. They always had football ability, they needed that bit of belief. They have it now. It is up to them now to push on and represent their county. You are always representing this club, but they need to stand up on behalf of their county.”
AIB Munster SFC quarter-final: Clonmel Commercials (Tipperary) v Newcastle west (Limerick), Clonmel Sportsfield 2pm
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