LIMERICK FC will be in action against Shamrock Rovers in the Airtricity League Premier Division at Thomond Park on Tuesday September 24 at 7:45pm.
The Super Blues’ last match saw them hold league leaders St Patrick’s Athletic to a scoreless draw, ending a four-game losing streak, and now manager Stuart Taylor is targeting a first win since the August bank holiday weekend. Limerick drew 1-1 with the Hoops at home in April and lost 1-0 in Tallaght in June, and Taylor alluded to the depth of Rovers’ squad.
“I look at Shamrock Rovers and as I’ve said before I see a strong attacking side. I see a club that has got a huge squad of experienced players and the last time we played them at Thomond Park, I looked around at their bench and I thought their bench was incredibly strong.
“That’s something that we don’t have at this moment to match them individually, but I’m more than delighted with our starting 11 with the team spirit and the desire that we’ve got. I would have that over and above what their motivation is.
“It’s going to be a very difficult game for us. I think they are the one team that can cause problems to anyone, and I mean that over St Pat’s and Sligo. It’s one side that I’ve always felt could cause real problems to any club, but in the two games that we’ve played them we went close, so we can take confidence out of that.”
Although Limerick are now unlikely to get dragged into a relegation battle, Taylor is still calling on his players to leapfrog Drogheda United and Cork City and secure a top half finish.
He states his aim as “catching the teams above us. We can do that, no doubt about it, and we believe we can catch both of them. That’s our motivation right now.”
Limerick FC chairperson Pat O’Sullivan confirmed that work has started on the redevelopment of the Markets Field. He did not completely rule out the possibility of the venue being ready for the start of the 2014 season, but conceded that it was highly unlikely.
O’Sullivan said: “We are delighted to see that the old pitch has been taken up and they’re working on the new pitch, so we obviously welcome that. The facts are that, as I understand them, if the weather is good and the pitch takes well, it could be playable next March or April, but then there are lots of other things to go alongside that. We’re talking to LEDP [Limerick Enterprise Development Partnership] on an ongoing basis in regards to all that. I don’t think we’ll be there for the start of next season, but there is a possibility we will.
“I tried to buy this place myself in the past but I couldn’t afford to do it. I went to JP McManus and the trust came in and bought it, so private people have taken an iconic site which might lie derelict for God knows how many years, and now we are the catalyst along with LEDP and the people around them to actually take that and make it something for the city centre and the community in the area.”
