Waterford V Limerick Match Preview

Fraher Field will play host to the Limerick and Waterford footballers as they play their last round of the National Football League this Saturday. With promotion out of the question for Limerick, pride will be the only thing up for grabs in Division 4 thus Saturday for Billy Lee’s men. Four points from their opening five games is not good enough from Limerick and they will know that.

Waterford started this years Division 4 campaign extremely well with good wins against London and Wicklow. They narrowly lost to Wexford by two points in their round three game 1-9 to 0-10. They went onto lose to Westmeath in round 4, 3-13 to 2-11 and Carlow in round 5 2-10 to 0-7 so coming into the last round of the league Waterford will be gunning to get a win, especially going into the Munster Championship to build up confidence in their team.

After the Limerick U21s impressive season was ended a week ago last Wednesday night by Cork, Lee will be hoping to use their momentum to finish the league campaign strongly. With several 21s in the senior panel, Lee will use their success as an example. Whilst it may come too soon for them to appear this Sunday, those players have proved that they have what it takes to make an impact in the Senior set up.

Adare’s Hugh Bourke, Pallasgreen’s Brian Fanning, Galtee Gaels’ Tommie Childs and Monaleen’s Brian O’Donovan have already impressed for the Seniors. Whilst there are sure to be a number of more called up from the U21 panel with Mike O’Donovan, Jim Liston and Kieran Daly among others showcasing their huge potential this season.

But for now, the Senior players must focus on this Sunday’s clash with the fellow Munster men. With many new faces introduced this campaign, Billy Lee must start to look at a potential XV to face Clare in the opening round of the Munster Championship in May.

Limerick have attempted to play fast moving football this Spring but have been thwarted by Wexford, Westmeath and Carlow thus far. However, with a number of quality forwards to choose from, Limerick must continue and try to supply them with early ball in the hope of getting scores on the board, something they have not been able to do enough in the last number of years.

A win this Saturday will mean that Limerick stay in Division 4 for next year.