WITH Limerick football in bloom, Jimmy Lee’s side want to make the most of another chance to ensure all is not rosy in the Garden.
Lee steered the Treaty to promotion from NFL Division 4 in March.
And their result against this weekend’s Tailteann Cup semi-final opponents was one of the seeds of their growth.
A last-gasp point from James Naughton earned the visitors a draw in Aughrim.
But Wicklow will have a score to settle on Sunday as a win over Lee’s men on St Patrick’s weekend would have seen the Garden County finish the campaign with a sufficient points tally to return to Division 3 at Limerick’s expense.
Lee recalled: “You could buckle under the pressure of being behind late in a game like that but the lads stuck hard at it.
“That result changed the mood of the whole place. You could see lads almost walking a bit lighter.
“They showed an abundance of character and they’ve continued to do that since.
“You’d be delighted for them because they’ve put a lot into it. But you don’t always get what you deserve in life. You have to work hard for it.”
After a dalliance with life in Division 2, Limerick were on the slide by the time Lee took charge for the 2024 season. Their decline was also accelerated by a significant turnover in personnel.
Compare the team who beat Wexford last weekend to the one dumped out of the 2023 Tailteann Cup by Laois and you will find only three starters common to both.
But the evidence accumulated in Lee’s second season indicates that a corner has been turned. Limerick went 17 league games without a win before beating London in February.
Ahead of another trip to Croke Park, their 13 fixtures so far in 2025 have produced just two defeats.
Lee said: “We were struggling mentally. What they were doing on the field was very good but it wasn’t coming together.
“The only thing we changed was the intensity that we trained at.
“We upped it a notch or two and then we got the result in London. I suppose it started flowing from there. You could see the pressure coming off.
“The mood has lightened as the year has gone on, especially for the senior players.
“They were carrying an awful lot of . . . baggage is probably the wrong word but an awful lot of the burden of Limerick going from Division 2 to Division 4.”
Having been crowned Division 4 champions earlier this season, Lee’s charges will be hoping for another successful outing at Croker.
Indeed, there could be cause for Limerick celebrations on two fronts at HQ this weekend as John Kiely’s hurlers will face Dublin in tomorrow’s All-Ireland SHC quarter-final.
That game forms part of a Dubs double-header as Dessie Farrell’s footballers are also on the bill for a preliminary quarter-final against Cork.
COST COMPLAINT
But Limerick fans wishing to get behind their team in both codes will have to return again on Sunday and shell out an extra €30 for the privilege.
Lee commented: “I know we were down to play on Sunday.
“And to be fair, we wouldn’t have been able to move it anyway because it would have been a six-day turnaround as both ourselves and Wicklow only played last Sunday.
“In fairness to the lads in the county board, they look after all that.
We were just planning to play on Sunday.
“I know Limerick people would be disheartened by having to travel up and down twice if they wanted to go to both of them, which is not ideal.
“Unfortunately myself and John don’t have any control over these things. There would be an abundance of support there if you had both Limerick teams on the same day.
“But for John and I, we have to keep our interest on the games and make sure we get it right on the day.”
