LISTEN: John Ryan “taking nothing for granted” with unknown London

Limerick’s ladies football side confirmed their All Ireland junior football championship semi final spot with a dominant 6-10 to 1-3 win over Carlow last weekend.

The win sees Limerick top their group and John Ryan’s side will now play London in a semi final on August 26th at a neutral venue. Limerick suffered an opening round loss to Derry but Ryan was happy with his his side responded.

“After the Derry game when they beat us by a point, we regrouped on the Wednesday night, we had a good long chat and we worked from there. We trained well after that and we went into the game confident but respectful of what Carlow would bring to Askeaton,” said Ryan.

Limerick new exactly what they needed from the game with a point winning margin required for progression. Ryan’s side certainly grasped the initiative and never really looked pressured by the situation. The Pallasgreen man says his side were give the freedom to express themselves.

“We wanted to throw off the shackles a small bit because up to now we have been playing to a certain plan. When we went into this game we knew had the firepower as well which is a help and a confidence boost for the players,” added Ryan.

Limerick’s reward for their win is an All Ireland semi final agains London who lost their crucial game to Louth and as a consequence finished 2nd in their group. The UK side didn’t play in the national league so they come into the semi final very much an unknown quantity.

London are coached by Limerick man Paddy Bowles from Oola and enjoyed wins over Kilkenny and Antrim while slipping to a narrow 3-point loss to Louth. Ryan says he is taking nothing for granted from the UK outfit.

“They are going to be very hard to beat, London are coming over hoping to get to an All Ireland Final and we are hoping to get there as well. We will take nothing for granted going into this semi final. The next two weeks are going to be crucial,” said Ryan.

Click on the link below to listen to the interview in full.