Jimmy carries on a family tradition with rebuilding job

MUNSTER COUNTERPARTS: Limerick manager Jimmy Lee and Kerry manager Jack O’Connor shake hands after the recent McGrath Cup Group A match between Limerick and Kerry at Mick Neville Park in Rathkeale. Pic: Harry Murphy, Sportsfile

In time, Jimmy Lee hopes to challenge his big brother’s success as Limerick football boss. For now, Jimmy is challenging the difficult numbers Billy had to grapple with during the early days of his own Limerick tenure.

Before Billy Lee brought Limerick to Munster finals and Division 2 fare, he was the Limerick manager that had 53 players turn down his invite to join the county panel ahead of the 2018 season.

Billy was throwing out invites like confetti because he needed to replace the 18 players he had lost from his debut season in charge.

Jimmy’s debut season in charge throws-in in earnest this Sunday at home to Antrim. And yet he has already surpassed a figure belonging to his older brother.

Where Billy lost 18 players six years ago, Jimmy inherited a Limerick panel minus 19 of its members from the 2023 class.

The breakdown goes as following: nine are travelling, seven are long-term injuries, one retiree, and two more can’t commit for one reason and another.

The county’s most recent All-Star nomination, Cian Sheehan, has jetted off. Goalkeeper and former captain Donal O’Sullivan has called it a day. The pair are among five starters from last year’s Munster semi-final defeat not available in 2024.

The first three subs introduced that evening, Hugh Bourke, Gordon Brown, and Davy Lyons, are also on that 19-man unavailable list, as is forward Robbie Bourke.

How about that for such a colossal loss of experience to ease you into the gig.

The latest Lee to hold the Treaty torch has brought in 18 newcomers, while he reckons it is a similar number in terms of fellas on board who were around in previous years and under previous regimes.

“This is a fundamental rebuild,” says Jimmy.

“I would have known about a lot of the lads going travelling. I went in with my eyes open. I was aware of the issues that were coming down the track.

“We have a lot of lads in the 19-22 age category and then trying to blend them with lads in the mid-20s and upwards.” In the final of Billy’s six years steering the ship, Limerick earned promotion from Division 3, reached a first Munster final in 12 years after a first pair of provincial championship wins in 13 years, and consequently wound up in the last 12 of Sam Maguire.

And then there was 2023. A return to leaner times.

Ray Dempsey was appointed in October and packed his desk the following March. Limerick, after failing to register a single league win, were packing their Division 2 desk a few weeks later.

Mark Fitzgerald came in on an interim basis. Their season ended when failing to protect a five-point second half advantage and failing to score in the last 24 minutes of their Tailteann Cup quarter-final at home to Laois.

Jimmy Lee hasn’t probed his players about last year. They’ve moved on. Turned the page.

“There was a lot of turmoil. I don’t think I’ve ever asked about last year, if I am truthful about it. But I wouldn’t say the lads are walking around with their heads pointing down at the ground.

“There is still a positive outlook on (Limerick football). We have got to be positive. We are not going into it to roll over. What would success look like? If we are at the upper end of Division 3.

“It’s about getting lads to develop in that mould of positivity. It’s not all doom and gloom. I would never say it is doom and gloom. There is talent within Limerick. It is up to myself and the management team to try and pull that out and get it out onto the field in a way we want to play.”

Jimmy brought Newcastle West within a kick of a ball of Munster senior club glory in December of 2022. Inter-county management, though, is several steps up again. A help then is when one of your older brothers has worn the t-shirt.

“The initial conversation was when the county board contacted me about the job. The initial question to Billy was, having his experience, ‘was I able for this?’” 

And Billy’s reply?

“Billy’s take was are you doing it for the right reasons, and the right reasons would be wanting to progress and improve Limerick football. That would always have been Billy’s mantra, particularly from his own time.” 

No question but Jimmy ticked that box. The Lee family are steeped in Newcastle West and Limerick football. Both brothers took on this job at a time when the curve wasn’t pointed in the most favourable of directions.

“Billy has unreal experience, so it has been a help in the background to bounce things off him. I have John Brudair in my backroom team, and John has been there as well.

“For a lot of us, it is a new journey, and we’re looking forward to it.”