Limerick manager Billy Lee has warned that his side must guard against being washed away by the Kerry “tidal wave” in Saturday’s Munster final.
Lee has steered Limerick to their first provincial decider in 12 years as they face a daunting trip to Killarney to face the unbackable favourites.
Kerry have won their last three Munster finals at Fitzgerald Stadium by a combined total of 43 points and Lee stressed the importance of Limerick staying in touch early on as they seek a first title in 126 years.
He said: “We’ve seen in the past, in Killarney especially, that when Kerry get goals back there they get momentum and the crowd behind them and the crowd wants to see them playing positive, attacking football and free-flowing football.
“It’s like a tidal wave coming against a team at that point. We’ve got to be mindful of that.
“At the same time we have to back ourselves and believe in ourselves and attack the game and be positive. We’re here to enjoy it - I keep saying that to the lads, sport is to be enjoyed.
“If we go to Killarney to come up with a plan that’s going to be horrendous for the lads to enjoy it, they’re not going to be able to get to the pitch of it because they won’t be enjoying themselves.
“We’ve got to get the balance right. It can’t be all just worrying about what they’re going to do so we’ve got to focus on what we can do as well.”
Kerry’s chief attacking threat is clearly David Clifford but Lee said that they can’t afford to get sidetracked by the Fossa starlet.
“David seems to be a special player. Kerry always seem to produce special players. Time will prove it when you compare David to the Gooch, and you compare to Maurice Fitz and all the greats they’ve had up front, the Bomber, Mikey Sheehy.
“Time will really judge David against those - he’s a special talent and it’s great for the game that he’s there, he draws a lot of attention from the supporters nationwide. That’s all great, it’s great for the sport - but it’ll cause me a headache between now and Saturday.
“Yeah, we’ll have to come up with a plan, but if we think it’s all about David Clifford we’ll be quickly in trouble. You have Paul Geaney, you’ve got Tony Brosnan, you’ve got Paudie Clifford, you’ve got Seanie O’Shea, Stephen O’Brien, Dara Moynihan, Adrian Spillane.
“We’ve just got to be conscious that we can’t just focus on David, we have to keep focused on ourselves and be aware of the dangers from all over the place.”
By winning promotion from Division Three and then reaching the Munster final, Limerick were ineligible for this year’s Tailteann Cup though the Newcastle West man is a fan of a two-tier format.
“There's five tiers in hurling, maybe that's too much, I'm not close enough to that scene, but certainly you can afford to have two in football.
“That's just my opinion, a lot of experienced people think differently and that's fine too. I'm not here to argue with anyone about it but when I'm asked I'll give my opinion.
“It doesn't bother me that we've missed it this year or if we never play in it for 10 years it won't bother me either, to me it's about is trying to sustain an organisation in Limerick that we can be competitive and whoever replaces me and the next man after that man and the next man just won't carry the challenges that we had initially.
“Somewhere down the line, hopefully we can win a Munster Championship, whenever that will be. But more importantly that we have people involved and that they feel that they're getting the benefit out of it personally as much as the football side of things.”
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