LEFT IN LIMBO
Anniversary of famous league Cup win ignored
WE NEED to care more about the sporting capital.
Last Monday was the 20th anniversary of when Limerick last won a major trophy.
After Pat O’Sullivan’s huge investment, they managed to win two First Division titles.
But it’s actually quite frightening that this great city hasn’t produced a club that has won a League of Ireland since 1980, and their last FAI Cup was 40 years ago.
That’s why it is simply bizarre to me that their heroic victory in the League Cup final, when they won on penalties after extra-time on Thursday April 11, 2002 at the Brandywell, seems to have been disrespectfully disregarded.
The manager of that team was a young Noel O’Connor, who only got the job because the club was in a complete mess.
Where was the anniversary dinner held?
Our football-loving President was born in Limerick and raised in Clare.
Occasion
On that special night in Derry 20 years ago the starting 11 contained eight men from Limerick and three from Clare. So I am very disappointed that Aras an Uachtaran hasn’t marked such a significant occasion.
I wonder over the next couple of decades how many get-togethers and hoolies will take place celebrating the success of Limerick hurling.
There is so much prejudice against football in Limerick and yet it has brought so many great names and personalities to the fore; legends such as Al Finucane, Johnny Matthews, Bobby Ryan, Tony Ward and the man who twice put the ball in the back of the Real Madrid net, Des Kennedy.
Sam Allardyce started his managerial career in this great city. Billy Hamilton was a legend there.
And one of my favourite people in Irish sport, the great Eoin Hand, delivered success to the club, including a league and FAI Cup in his remarkable spell at the helm.
Care
No-one seems to care about why Limerick have had so few trophies, yet so many different grounds, names and controversies.
And it really is time for Abbotstown to find its voice and show a little bit of respect.
Despite the propaganda, the reality is football is the biggest sport in our country; not rugby or GAA.
Just look at the Limerick representative in the League of Ireland — Treaty United.
They are not even called Limerick, because we weren’t able to sit down and negotiate a deal with O’Sullivan to give up the Limerick FC name.
And while Treaty have been so admirable in their development, is it any wonder that crowds have been slightly disappointing this season in the Markets Field.
They don’t even play in the proud traditional Limerick football blue jersey — a colour associated with the city ever since the 1940s.
There is something very wrong about how Limerick gets treated when the 20th anniversary of such an incredible triumph was forgotten even, it seems, in Limerick itself, where too often many of its powerful business community have looked down on inner-city football kids as scallies and outsiders, not worthy of the respect given to rugby legends and GAA heroes.
I went to Limerick and brought down a few bottles of champagne to give to Noel, who proudly regaled the story of that magnificent cup run.
After winning the first-leg at Jackman Park 2-1, despite Liam Coyle’s penalty winner at the Brandywell in the second-leg, Limerick found a way after extra-time to win.
Derry sub Jamie Hughes, who won the penalty scored by Coyle, smashed his spotkick against the underside of the crossbar, the League Cup went home with this remarkable
team.
Limerick FC haven’t just represented Limerick, but also the county of Clare.
Pat Purcell from Shannon, who I signed for St Pat’s earlier in his career after impressing with Park Rangers and Pike Rovers, was joined by fellow-Shannonsider Brendan Hughes and Brian Donnellan, who scored an absolute cracker to beat Shamrock Rovers in the semis.
They also knocked out Cork City at Turner’s Cross on their run to the final.
It’s time for the FAI to get everyone who loves football in Limerick into a room, forget about problems of the past and work together on solutions for the future.
Money
O’Sullivan put so much into football in Limerick: time, effort and money. Surely his investments should be respected as his Limerick team did win those two First Division titles. Those successes brought so much energy and hope to the city, and of course his team featured Chiedozie Ogbene.
I love what Treaty have done under my old friend Dave Mahedy, who is such a winner that when I saw him at a recent game in Galway after the team had lost, he walked straight past me.
It’s time the Limerick business community, Limerick politicians and everyone in Irish football
‘The reality is football is the biggest sport in our country; not rugby or GAA’