Limerick face Cork in opening game of the Munster Football Championship

JIMMY LEE'S Limerick football team are hoping that returning players and a positive attitude will be enough to compete in this year's Munster Championship.

The Shannonsiders face Cork in their opening game of the championship this Sunday in SuperValue Páirc Uí Chaoimh at 2pm.
After an incredibly disappointing league run, losing every game in division three relegating them down into round four of the Allianz Football League.

Speaking at the launch of the Munster Championship, manager Jimmy Lee summed up this year's league run. “Look of course it has been disappointing, losing is never a happy place to be. There are a few issues there, we have a lot of new lads coming through and we are starting poorly in games. If you are constantly chasing games it makes it nearly impossible to win then.”

The Limerick football team have struggled from the beginning through injuries and a number of players deciding to go travelling this year.

Jimmy continued on by saying: “Nine or ten of last year's team are gone away travelling and then we have lost five forwards from the start of the campaign due to injuries. Then you have injuries they were carrying from last year so in totality I think I only had 16 players from last year's squad available for me.

“Thankfully we have a few lads coming back now, the likes of Danny Neville, Brian Nix, Andrew Meade, Darragh Siochru, Hugh Burke and Cormac Wolfe. Whether they will be fit for championship or not is slightly out of our control at the moment.”

Lee and his troops will have to turn their attention to the opening round of the Munster Championship this Sunday, rather than dwelling on relegation and a tough league run. Their opposition Cork, who play in Division Two of the Allianz Football league, have also had a rocky league in 2024.

The Rebels finished fourth in the table with three wins, one draw and a further three losses. Their previous meeting with the Treaty team was a Cork hammering of 6-18 to 0-12, which doesn't bode well for this Sunday's clash.

Lee went on to speak about the opening game of the championship stating: “Morale is good enough within the squad, no one is lacking enthusiasm. We need to get starting games better and have left too many games behind us during the league and we have to start producing 70 minute performances.

“It is difficult to stop the slope of losing and there is a lot of learnings going on within the management and the players themselves.

“We have to try and get players up to the standard and at this moment in time I can safely say we aren't there. I absolutely believe that the wheel will start turning for us soon rather than later.”

In his first year as the senior football manager Lee is only focusing on developing players, despite the disappointing run of results in the division three league.

“Everyone's moments come at different stages and sure of course you would doubt yourself sometimes, that is only human nature.

It is what it is and you have to keep fighting and trying to deliver a performance week on week. We have asked a lot of this group of lads this year and they have responded well.”

Limerick will be hoping to get their injuries sorted in the hopes that experience will be enough to get them into the semi-final of the Munster Championship.

Putting this year's league aside and facing a weak Cork team, Lee and his Limerick team might just have a chance of causing an upset in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh this Sunday, if everything falls into place.