NEWCASTLE West and Adare take centre stage Friday evening under lights at the TUS Gaelic Grounds as they face off for Limerick Senior Football Championship honours.
Newcastle West and Adare will add another chapter to their storied history as they clash once again in the Limerick Senior Football Championship Final.
Newcastle West’s road to the final was paved with wins over Galbally and Fr Caseys in the group stages, before easing past Claughaun in the quarter-final. Jimmy Lee’s side earned their ticket in this years final after a slim victory over Monaleen, a fixture which finished 0-11 to 0-10.
Ahead of the final, NCW captain Eoin Hurley shared his thoughts ahead of their final clash with the defending champions.
“Really looking forward to it, the build up has been good and there’s been a lot of talk about it. We’ve been good rivals over the past few years and there’s another good battle on the way.”
Newcastle have won only two of the last five encounters with Adare, the most recent of which was last year’s quarter-final clash where Newcastle fell five points short of the eventual winners.
“You have to concentrate on yourself, if your thinking back to last year you’re not gonna get the best out of yourself, if revenge is on your mind you might as well forget about it”
“We’re playing with more freedom at the moment, lads know if they’re performing at training that they’ll be in the starting team… we’ve a lot of fella’s who could easily come on and that’s it, the shackles are off and we’re really enjoying our football.”
Newcastle West manager Jimmy Lee also shared his thoughts ahead of the clash, acknowledging the fact that just competing in a final is an achievement in itself.
“It’s always great to be in a county final, we’re really looking forward to it as a team and a management team.”
Although Lee has no misconceptions about the threat Adare pose to his side’s momentum, he also reminds us about the threat his squad poses to Adare’s ambitions of going back-to-back.
Lee can lean on the experience and grit of Limerick co-captain Iain Corbett, Mike Quilligan, James Kelly and Mike McMahon, he also rely on their strength in depth highlighted by Limerick U20s captain Brian Foley, who is often resigned to the bench.
“They’re champions and there’s a reason they’re champions, but at the same time we’re there too.”
Take a look at the full interview with Newcastle West captain Eoin Hurley:
The post WATCH: “The shackles are off” for Jimmy Lee’s NCW side ahead of Limerick Senior Football Final appeared first on Sporting Limerick.
