Ian Ryan claims Limerick can get back challenging for Munster glory

It’s that sense of unfinished business which keeps Ian Ryan trucking along.

Part of Limerick’s football furniture since 2008, Ryan, in the absence of the injured Iain Corbett, will captain the Treaty County in this Sunday’s Munster quarter-final bout at home to Clare. Limerick haven’t won a match in Munster since 2012 and yet Ryan is as optimistic as ever that an upturn in the county’s provincial fortunes lies just around the corner.

That optimism stems largely from his involvement with the Limerick team of the mid-noughties. He joined a panel which held no inhibitions about facing Kerry or Cork. Standing toe-to-toe with Munster’s dominant pair was the basic expectation of Mickey Ned O’Sullivan’s group and the provincial decider was reached in Ryan’s second and third season on the scene.