Limerick footballers target league semi-final spot

LIMERICK and Offaly have met four times across the last 10 years in the Allianz Football League and on each occasion the away side secured victory.

On today Saturday, at 3pm, in O’Connor Park in Tullamore, the victor is guaranteed a place in the semi-finals of Division Three – Limerick beating Tipperary in round one and Offaly defeating Wicklow.

Limerick’s last visit to Tullamore was 2014 when Donal O’Sullivan, Iain Corbett, Danny Neville and Cian Sheehan all played.

Limerick face John Maughan’s Offaly full of confidence after beating Tipperary. But manager Billy Lee has warned: “Lets not get carried away.”

“We have two points on the board and Tipp have none but we have two tough away games to come," he said of visits to Offaly and Wicklow across the next two weekends.

"One swallow doesn’t make a summer so we have to keep our feet very much on the ground. We have put a lot of focus on trying to win our home games and that was the big joy for us tonight," said the Newcastle West man.

This was Lee's first game into his fifth season at the helm of Limerick but his first outside of the basement division in the league.

“It's never about me or any one individual player or any one individual board member - it’s about us trying to build a foundation for Limerick football. I will step away at some point and then the next person comes in - its about continuity.

"It was a tough couple of years for a lot of lads and we had to try and push a lot of **** up a hill to get where we are and we are still nowhere. It’s hard work,” he explained.

“We have worked hard since 2018 in trying to make this a tight squad and build year on year and today was the first signs of what we would call real squad. Let's be reflective and it’s at our level, which is coming into Division Three.

"There were a couple of more lads not even on the squad today that played championship here last November and two of them come to mind. This is what we have been working for and this is what we want for Limerick football.

"We can worry about what heights we can scale to when we get a competitive squad - so when some fella drops off at the later end of his career that we have someone ready made to come in and that’s what it is about. Wherever it takes us I am not worried about it,” said Billy Lee.