Tailteann Cup final the latest rung of Limerick's ladder to consistency and stability

Irish Examiner

18 hours ago

Stable. Sustainable. Successful.
The above is no corporate speak. It is no aspirational jargon thrown out so as to give the impression that a plan is in place. The above is Jimmy Lee's vision for Limerick football.
Seventy minutes from the end of his second term, how is that vision progressing?
'It is going in the right direction. We have boxes ticked, others still need to be,' says Lee.
Making Limerick football a stable entity carries obvious reasoning. It is currently a peak-and-trough entity. Altitude peaks and sinking troughs, at that.
Three League promotions and two relegations in the past six seasons. Four managers in the past four seasons.
A 17-game winless League run spanning three seasons, followed by a 12-game League and championship run where they've only lost once.
This constant yo-yoing has an easily identifiable root cause.
When Jimmy was appointed in August 2023 and began assembling a dressing-room, he found that 19 of that year's panel would be unavailable for his debut 2024 campaign. From '24 to this year, 16 of the 36 did not carry on.
Foundations laid from December to summer are being hammered in the off-season. The rebuilding cycle is in constant spin.
'You might have two, three, or four that step away at the end of this year, but we'll be pushing to see if we can avoid it in total. I know lads have given a length of service, but you'd always be hoping they will take one more leap of faith.
'The vision would be to make Limerick football sustainable year-on-year. But there are stepping stones along the way, such as to keep lads coming back in the door, to win a Tailteann.
"The ultimate vision is to have a product you can deliver year-on-year within your capabilities.'
A consistent product. That was Jimmy's 2025 vision.
'Last year, we were all over the place. We were training in Knocklong some nights, you were in Rathkeale others. With Micheál's [Cahill, coach] knowledge of surfaces and player physique, we based ourselves out of UL's all-weather surface this year.
"We knew there would be a six-to-seven-week familiarisation period where lads would be getting stiff and sore, but it was smooth sailing after that.
'We would have been without places if we didn't have UL. We'd train once a week in Rathkeale on grass, but every other session was in UL, video analysis, the works. We didn't come out of there until April.'
Winning the Tailteann Cup has been a means to an end for all previous winners. Just look at where Meath are two years after second-tier success. Even Down gave this year's top-tier a right rattle.
You might think Limerick are different. They are, of course, without All-Ireland football championship silverware at any level since the 1896 Sam Maguire win.
'It's not the be-all-and-end-all,' Lee says of Saturday. 'You'd go into Sam Maguire, but our focus next year would really be on Division 3.
'Back when Stephen Lucey and Pa Ranahan were playing, under Liam Kearns, you were riding the crest of a wave, we almost won a Munster final here against Kerry [in 2004]. But yet and all then you went down.
'It is taking them peaks and troughs out of the way because where you want to go and maintain is a flat line, and you look no further than our neighbours Clare, seven seasons in Division 2.
'On the pathway of our journey, it is massively important to Limerick football to be in a national final. But it is beyond that and beyond that again.'