GAELIC GAMES:AS CHAMPIONSHIP debuts go, it doesn't get any brighter or tougher than Kerry. A year ago, Maurice Horan was a selector with Mickey Ned O'Sullivan with the Limerick team that pushed the Kingdom to the brink. Now, he finds himself in the hot seat.
The approach to this match has been bruising. Not only has Horan had to cope with the loss of John Galvin for the season, Stephen Lucey has also been ruled out of this match with injury. They are two heavyweights that Limerick can ill-afford to be without.
“I think with John and Stephen being ruled out, there was a lot of disappointment in the county. Those two are stalwarts. But I still feel Limerick people will come out in force and get behind us. In the qualifier match against Cork last year, we looked dead and buried and got a score and the crowd got us back into it. So they do come out and support us and I do think it is an attractive tie.
“The peculiar thing is John was ever present since 1999 in Limerick championship teams so the players are used to having him there and he does provide that leadership. He has always taken the game for the opposition. That said, they are used to playing without him because he has missed league games through his involvement with basketball. It is a big blow but the fact it happened a few weeks ago has given players a chance to get their heads around it and get on with what we have to do. Losing Stephen is also a big disappointment but we think we have good players to step in.”
Horan is a Ballinrobe man who moved to Limerick in 2000 through work. For years, he persevered with playing for the Mayo club, embarking on cross-country drives for Friday night training sessions. Rather than dip, his form was such he earned a call-up to the Mayo senior team in 2003. “A late breakthrough,” Horan shrugs.
A year later he transferred to Limerick club Monaleen, he went on to play with the county team. It was then the peculiarity of Limerick’s situation struck him. They have one of the toughest stations in the championship, having to go through Cork and Kerry – and often both – if they are to win a Munster title. It has proven an all but impossible bind to break.
“It is tough, yeah. We made it to the Munster final last year but they (Kerry and Cork) were on the other side of the draw so it made it that bit easier. And then Limerick is such a strong sports county. Mayo has pockets of basketball and rugby but it is, primarily, a Gaelic football county.
“Here, hurling is the flagship game but the rugby is huge now and soccer has a bit. So it is strong across the board and players tend to play a lot of different sports. For sports enthusiasts, it is great. But it does make demands on players. We haven’t played Kerry too often in recent years: 2005 was the last time prior to last year. The guys are more used to playing Cork.
“But they are playing one of the teams that are perennial favourites for the championship so while it is tough these are the teams you want to play against. You look forward to it.”
And they have good reason to. Limerick have been pushing hard in recent years – a one-point defeat to Cork in 2009 and then that 1-17 to 1-14 Munster final loss to Kerry last year. The details of that game have lingered long after the disappointment, in particular the 1-7 burst with which Kerry managed to turn the match around. Limerick registered 12 wides in that period and failed to register a score for over 30 minutes.
“John Galvin scored 1-1 at a crucial stage to bring us into that game and we know we can’t be allowing ourselves to fall into holes like that which are almost impossible to come out of.”
Horan is candid about his relative lack of experience. At 35, he is one of the youngest managers in the game. But he had previously managed the Under-21 team and feels he learned a lot from watching and working with O’Sullivan a year ago. He could never have guessed, growing up in Ballinrobe, that Limerick football would come to consume so much of his energy but he says that now, “you spend practically every waking moment thinking about it”.
As ever, Limerick enter today’s match as long shots but Horan is hopeful the team and crowd will rise to the occasion.
“Limerick people do support this team. They were wonderful last year when we played Cork in the qualifiers and a championship match against Kerry in the Gaelic Grounds. It is an exciting match. We are ready for it.”
