Billy Lee hoping Limerick 'not too far off the mark' against Cork in Munster SFC

LIMERICK look to defy the odds and topple Cork in the Munster senior football championship this Saturday afternoon.

Billy Lee’s side meet The Rebels in the LIT Gaelic Grounds at 3pm with a place in the July 25 Munster SFC final up for grabs.

The game is available to watch on www.gaago.ie for €8.

In 31 championship meetings, just three times Limerick have emerged victorious and the bookies have those in red as the hot 1/7 favourites as opposed to 11/2 outsiders Limerick.

Limerick manager Billy Lee has eyes on only one target – his team playing to their ability.

“People are maybe putting some expectation there based on the performance against Waterford and how we played in previous games but for me it is about ensuring we follow up on our own standard that we have set for ourselves and maintaining that game on game. That is key and if we get to that, I would hope that we would not be too far off the mark,” outlined Lee.

He added: “I think we might have to find improvement on our standard - I would equate Cork and Derry about the game and we were a bit behind Derry so we have to find improvements”.

“In performances for the last few years in championship we have certainly improved from 2018 and then in 2019 we beat Tipperary but got a trouncing against Cork. Since then we would be reasonably happy with performance - maybe not the result but performance. We have to get away as a county from thinking championship is about one big game - it’s about a sustained performance over a lot of games. Every game is important and it’s about maintaining a standard and build on it by getting more from ourselves to get up to the next level,” outlined the Newcastle West man.

He reference the last championship meeting of the teams – a 3-18 to 0-6 Cork win in 2019.

But Limerick did beat Cork in the McGrath Cup final in January 2020.

“​It's good to have that in the memory bank but equally we can’t forget six months before that what they did to us. We are very familiar with them - We had McGrath Cup last year and championship the previous year and a few challenge matches in that period of time. Everyone prepares for the opposition but we can’t get too carried away and we are certainly not in a position to be totally focused on the opposition - we need to be focused on ourselves but aware of what the opposition will bring.”

Lee is happy that Limerick football is on an upward curve.

"People are delighted that the lads are putting their best foot forward and take great joy in that. This is something that is not lost on me and I share with the lads the joy they bring to people and it’s important we put our best foot forward every day we go out - it won’t happen every day but we realise we are representing people who take great joy in that and never more so than the times we live in."