LISTEN: Niall Crowley looks ahead to Limerick Minor Footballers championship opener

The Limerick minor footballers travel to Ennis on Wednesday for the opening round of the 2018 Munster Championship. Limerick have faced and lost to Clare in each of the previous five seasons and will be hopeful of a better outcome this time around. Manager Niall Crowley has left little to chance in preparation for the championship with a large number of young players given their chance to make the panel.

He has been pleased with the involvement of former county players who have helped with the Academy in Limerick. There is plenty of inter-county experience in his backroom team with Pa Ranahan, Andrew Lane and Mikey Lyons all featuring for Limerick since the turn of the decade.

“This group came through the academy. We had 36 lads that have come through from U16s in the Academy so that was our starting point…. We have probably contacted just under 100 players… We’ve 36 guys now at present.”

“Nearly every county now has an Academy or a developmental squad so it’s not an advantage really but there is a lot of work going in there on Saturday mornings and a lot of ex-players which is great to see, giving back to the sport and getting involved.”

https://twitter.com/PaRanahan/status/983458377580908544

Ahead of the derby, Crowley is taking nothing for granted against a Clare side his team will be well accustomed to facing at underage. Although he is aware of the threats that the Banner will present, he is quietly confident that his side has enough to come away from Ennis with the win under their belts.

“We would have played Clare frequently down through the years and its typical Clare-Limerick, a win followed by a loss We are just hoping the lads will do themselves justice and produce a performance they are capable of and if we do that hopefully the result will take care of itself.”

“We’ll just prepare as normal… Just to put in the performance we know that they are capable of and hopefully that will be enough on the night.”

Listen to the interview in full on the link below.