Limerick's Barry Coleman looks ahead to 2026 Munster Championship clash with Cork

LIMERICK senior footballer Barry Coleman says that despite a disappointing league campaign, his side are looking forward to this year's championship, with the Rathkeale native claiming that the Shannonsiders can compete with the country's best on their day.

Jimmy Lee's charges get their championship journey underway this Sunday in Páirc Uí Chaoimh at 2pm where they will be playing an in-form Cork side.

"I think the feeling amongst the players last year, and even at this moment, after this point in league campaign, is that on our given day, when everything clicks and we play to our principles and whatever it may be, that we can compete with what are, in essence, are some of the best teams in the country.

"The difficult part is just trying to get that to click every single time you play for the 70 minutes, or whatever it may be and at the moment it's just not happening for us but look, it's starting to click for 30 minutes and then you build on that."

The Limerick defender says that his side can take solace in the fact that there are a number of first-team regulars set to come back into the fold ahead of their joust with 'The Rebels.'

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Limerick have been hit with numerous injury set-backs throughout this year's league campaign but Coleman is hopeful that those returning will come back and hit the ground running.

"There's a lot of lads who we have coming back. Against Westmeath, we lost four players with three of them being hamstring injuries and you're hoping as they're coming back, that more players will come back as well.

"Internal expectations within the group are that on our given day, there's no reason we shouldn't be able to compete with any Division 2 team or any Division 3 team, whatever it may be.

"Following on from the relegation, maybe those expectations may have dropped a small bit but I still think that internally, the expectations and our goal, our limits, are extremely high compared to what they might have been in previous years."

Coleman says that despite a disappointing league campaign, the trip to Leeside offers his side the chance to 'take a scalp' against a Cork side who narrowly missed out on a Division 2 title a fortnight ago, where they were edged by Meath in Croke Park.

"There's still a massive season there. There's a scalp to be taken in the Munster Championship. I think everyone in the camps believes that we can take a scalp as well. So that's what we're aiming towards at the minute."

Coleman says that players and management alike were left disappointed with the Munster GAA's decision on seeding for the 2026 championship.

The provincial council had previously confirmed that, beginning in 2026, the two highest-ranked teams in the Allianz Football League would be placed on opposite sides of the draw for the following year’s championship. However, that change has now been postponed until 2027.

"Players were disappointed in regards what happened, and the management was disappointing regards what happened but at the end of the day, we'll just have to park it for now and go out and try prove people wrong."

Coleman and his charges will have to park off the field matters for the time being as they look to get the better of Cork in the championship for the first time since 2003, where Limerick ran out 0-16 to 0-6 winners in a Munster quarter-final at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

"There's a completely different feel around the place when it comes to championship, it's where special victories take place," Coleman said.