'It’s hard to fathom': Limerick face injury crisis ahead of clash with Fermanagh

INJURY-hit Limerick need a win and a favour in their final fixture if they are to avoid relegation from Division 3 of the Allianz Football League.

Conal Ó Duinn, Oran Collins, Sean Clancy, Tony McCarthy and James Naughton all limped off in the 16-point defeat to Westmeath last weekend meaning Jimmy Lee will have to make full use of his panel for the crucial visit of Fermanagh to Mick Neville Park this weekend.

The Ulster county travel to Rathkeale having had their relegation to Division 4 confirmed last weekend.

Limerick need a win as well as a Sligo defeat to Clare to avoid joining the Erne County in the bottom tier next season.

Manager Jimmy Lee confirmed that the injuries sustained by Clancy, Collins and O’Duinn will rule them out of the game with a wait-and-see approach for the others.

Limerick conceded 1-9 without reply in the last 10 minutes in Mullingar on Sunday in the heavy defeat to the Midlanders.

“It’s extremely difficult, the scoreboard was difficult number one, what happened during the game in injury terms, it was just one of those days,” the Limerick manager said after the defeat.

The run of bad luck with the injuries was particularly hard to stomach for the Newcastle West man.

“It’s hard to fathom it, it’s hard to rationalise it - we had three hamstring injuries in 10, 15 minutes. It's the hand of cards we have.

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“We won’t feel sorry for ourselves, we’ll get on with it next week.

“It’s must-win and we’ll hope the results go with it.”

Having either been promoted or relegated in the league in five of the last six years, Lee says remaining in the third tier is important to the side’s development.

“That was always the reality, we have to maintain it (Division 3 League status) and allow everyone to go at it again come January.

“This thing of see-sawing is not good for Limerick in general. The whole thing is not good.

“We have to go incremental and build it and stabilise.”

Conceding 2-3 from turnovers early in the game against Westmeath last weekend was a particular pain-point for Lee as his side struggled in recent weeks against some of the stronger sides in the division.

After the first four games in the campaign were one-score affairs, the last two defeats were by greater margins, the Westmeath loss coming after a nine-point reversal against Clare.

Lee will be hoping that his side can shake off this drop-off in performances and the growing injury-list as they fight for league survival.

As well as conceding four goals in the Midlands, improvements are also needed up front if Limerick are to avoid the drop.

They are the lowest-scorers in Division 3 with only Monaghan and Waterford having a worse return in front of goal than Limerick’s average of 16 points per game.