Tipperary V Limerick preview.

This Saturday will see the Munster Intermediate Championship meeting of Tipperary and Limerick in Sean Tracy Park, in Tipperary town at 2pm.

The bookies have Tipperary as favourites going into the game having had a very successful run in the league by winning Division 3 a few weeks ago.

In contrast to that Limerick struggled this year, suffering the pain of relegation only 12 months on from promotion. The league meeting between the two was a lopsided affair with Tipp easing to a 4-16 to 0-6 points win.

It was a learning experience for manager Kevin Denihan’s team and something they can improve on as they now go forward into the Championship.

Olivia Giltenane – who was selected on the Division 3 team of the league last weekend –  was one of Limerick’s stand out performers in the league.

For their part, Tipp had 5 girls selected on the team of the league, Aisling McCarthy, Aishling Moloney, Emma Buckley, Siobhan Condon and Brid Condon.

Limerick are already playing catch up in the Championship having suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Clare in the opening round.

Speaking to Sporting Limerick ahead of tomorrow’s game Limerick manager Kevin Denihan remains upbeat and rightly asserts that Limerick had missed opportunities to claim a scalp during the league campaign.

“We had a tough league campaign results wise but performance wise we were competitive in majority of the games.

“‘We were 10 points up against Meath and ended up losing by three after a sin-bin and same with Down, we were ahead and then got pegged down.

“Since the league we’ve added eight players to the panel. Unfortunately we lost a couple of girls. Out of those eight players, three minors are included but they’ve been a breath of fresh air so they are all stepping up to the mark.

“We’re just looking for a performance tomorrow, results wise we’re probably up against it but as long as we get 100% from the girls we have and a performance then we’re happy.”

Denihan is taking positives from the league campaign and fully believes the talent exists within the squad to be competitive.

“The talent is there, there is experience. We are in transition but there is a good minor team coming through, there’s a few of the girls playing O’Connor Cup, Lynch Cup. The girls are a successful bunch at club level.

“It is all about positivity, we don’t look at the negatives. Even after a bad result or bad performance we don’t look at negatives. We look back at the game and we just talk about the positives.

“There is never a bad word said. The girls are there for a reason, their there to win it but they are also there to enjoy themselves, not to be a chore. We’re going to have good days and bad days, we focus on the good days.

One thing is for sure, Denihan has done everything he can to take the pressure of his team. With the pressure off, Limerick can certainly go out and have a right cut at Tipperary.

Best of luck to everyone involved.