“It’s up to us” Rallying cry from captain Duggan

Limerick FC captain Shane Duggan will lead his teammates into a crucial match on Friday night and possibly one of the biggest games that the club has seen for many years. Airtricity League Premier Division survival is a must for the future of senior soccer in the city. The club have endured much documented problems this season and relegation could complicate things even further.

Duggan is only concentrating on the job at hand and says the squad have bounced back well from the defeat on Monday night. “Everything has been going well since. It’s been just about getting the recovery to make sure everybody is fit for Friday night because there was a lot of travelling involved and it was a tough game. It’s all about getting tactics right for Friday night.”

It was a frustrating night for the squad on Monday as they fell to 1-0 defeat in Donegal despite dominating possession and creating two extremely good chances. The former Cork City midfielder felt the team played well but knows they need to show more creativity to break down a strong defensive unit.  “Yeah the goal came from our own mistake and they never carved us open. We played well and I was expecting them to come out a lot more but we dominated the game without getting that goal which is disappointing. So many times have teams went up there and out played them but they come away with the result. But that’s why they are in this position as they know how to grind out results.”

The Limerick native is hoping for a big crowd at the Markets Field and was full of praise for the supporters who travelled to Donegal. However, he is aware that it is now up to the players to ensure safety for the club. ” It’s up to us now. We are the home team. We have to stay calm as well as we need that bit of quality to cut them open because they are a good unit but we can’t go gung-ho too quickly as we will leave ourselves open.We must keep our discipline and keep the ball moving quickly and that’s something we have been working on.”

Duggan says he hasn’t even thought about entering the first division yet and realises how important it is for the club in it’s current predicament to stay in the premier division. “Yeah it’s not like three years ago where we had a fairly big budget in the first division and we managed to keep on to the majority of our team. I’m not even thinking about going down to the first division to be honest with you. We just have to make sure we stay in the premier division and that’s our job. Hopefully all the off the field problems will be sorted as well. It’s a club that should be in the premier division. You’ve seen the facilities and for a city like Limerick, it would be a shame to see it go to the first division. We will be trying everything we can to avoid it.”

The big kick off for the game between Limerick FC and Finn Harps is 7.45 at the Markets Field and the Limerick public are urged to get behind the team in order to support their ambition to keep the city’s senior soccer club in the premier division.