Great night in Sport for Limerick

tommy249

So tonight was a great night for Limerick sport. The footballers beating a fancied Meath team by 9 points in the Gaelic Grounds and Andy Lee's victory in UL.

A disappointing side to it however was the poor support for the footballers in the Gaelic Grounds. Meath Supporters out numbering Limerick by about 2-1. Hopefully now the Limerick people will realise that we have a quality football team and start supporting them. They deserve our support.

panda100

Just back from the match! Absolutely great stuff.
My brother plays on the team so I know how hard they train and how dissapointing it is when their efforts go completly unrecognised by the majority of Limerick people.
It was really dissapointing the lack of support tonight,especailly for a home match! I really hope the people of Limerick get behind them next weekend. They really desrve it,we have some of the best footballers in the country representing us!

ddddd

I didn't think that the level of support for Limerick was as low as it was for other matches they have played .. What the crowd lacked in numbers they certainly made up for it in vocal ability!! And you'r forgetting that because Limerick is such a sporting place the majority at the boxing last night would have possibly wanted to go to the football also!!! But to be honest the footballers certainly deserve the huge support the hurlers have gotten!!

talkingclock

maybe there are just not that many football supporters here in limerick? i wouldn't complain if nobody goes to a badminton competition albeit a limerick team is playing!

tommy249

talkingclock wrote: »

maybe there are just not that many football supporters here in limerick? i wouldn't complain if nobody goes to a badminton competition albeit a limerick team is playing!

While that is a fair point, in 2004 when Limerick were playing Kerry in the Munster football final there were over 35,000 at the replay in Killarney with Limerick supporters outnumbering Kerry. Now the perception is that Limerick are a weak football team (which has been proved wrong in their last 2 games) and there were less that 2,000 Limerick supporters at the Gaelic Grounds last night. Where were the other 15,000 or 16,000 supporting Limerick a few years ago?? While I appreciate that success leads to support it kind of shows how fickle Limerick support can be. Remember last Sat the Limerick hurlers were booed off the pitch at full time. But then when Munster are winning there are 30,000 + on O'Connell street cheering them on.

The_Dave

tommy249 wrote: »

While that is a fair point, in 2004 when Limerick were playing Kerry in the Munster football final there were over 35,000 at the replay in Killarney with Limerick supporters outnumbering Kerry. Now the perception is that Limerick are a weak football team (which has been proved wrong in their last 2 games) and there were less that 2,000 Limerick supporters at the Gaelic Grounds last night. Where were the other 15,000 or 16,000 supporting Limerick a few years ago?? While I appreciate that success leads to support it kind of shows how fickle Limerick support can be. Remember last Sat the Limerick hurlers were booed off the pitch at full time. But then when Munster are winning there are 30,000 + on O'Connell street cheering them on.

Limerick hurling fans tend to be more county wide, whilst the footballers and probably fans are from the south of the county, Limerick unfortunately was, is, and for the for the forseeable future will be a hurling county. The effort appears to be coming from the footballers, whilst the usual stories of drinking are coming out about the hurlers, well it's there for all to see which team is still in the hunt for honours...

Amazotheamazing

Don't think it's fair to say Limerick fans are fickle, last year 25,000 turned up to the opening game against Tipp despite us not winning a game in 6 or so years. That's actually incredible loyalty. I think anyone can understand the sheer anger over what happened the hurlers this year.

Football has never been a big sport in Limerick. It just doesn't have a big following, fair weather guys like me will swing behind them now, but let's not fools ourselves, Hurling and Rugby are the main sports.

mccutchie

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Don't think it's fair to say Limerick fans are fickle, last year 25,000 turned up to the opening game against Tipp despite us not winning a game in 6 or so years. That's actually incredible loyalty. I think anyone can understand the sheer anger over what happened the hurlers this year.

Football has never been a big sport in Limerick. It just doesn't have a big following, fair weather guys like me will swing behind them now, but let's not fools ourselves, Hurling and Rugby are the main sports.

Fair play to the footballers, great to see some pride restored to the Limerick jersey. I was at the game, and the hunger and passion shown was a joy to see. Well done lads, more of the same against kildare please. A great lift after the disappointment of the hurlers.

puntosporting

Its true Hurling and rugby are the most supported sports in Limerick thats just the way of things!
Limerick soccer has very poor following also mainly because they are not playing at a very high level!
The footballers need to show a consistent few years and the support will grow with them i believe!

Tinytony

The_Dave wrote: »

Limerick hurling fans tend to be more county wide, whilst the footballers and probably fans are from the south of the county, Limerick unfortunately was, is, and for the for the forseeable future will be a hurling county. The effort appears to be coming from the footballers, whilst the usual stories of drinking are coming out about the hurlers, well it's there for all to see which team is still in the hunt for honours...

Well the majority of the football supporters would tend to come from West Limerick and then you have the usual few die hards from around the county. It's joke that people don't get behind the footballers, but it's been that way for years and always will be. I think using the boxing as an excuse is a bit weak too because I know plenty of people who went to both.

Meathlass

Tinytony wrote: »

Well the majority of the football supporters would tend to come from West Limerick and then you have the usual few die hards from around the county. It's joke that people don't get behind the footballers, but it's been that way for years and always will be. I think using the boxing as an excuse is a bit weak too because I know plenty of people who went to both.

Have to say as a Meath fan at the game I was really astonished to see so few Limerick fans there. The section I was in and the sections either side of it were almost exculsively meath fans. Bet there'll be alot more at the next game. Great win for limerick though.

tommy249

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Don't think it's fair to say Limerick fans are fickle, last year 25,000 turned up to the opening game against Tipp despite us not winning a game in 6 or so years. That's actually incredible loyalty. I think anyone can understand the sheer anger over what happened the hurlers this year.

Football has never been a big sport in Limerick. It just doesn't have a big following, fair weather guys like me will swing behind them now, but let's not fools ourselves, Hurling and Rugby are the main sports.

To be fair, there were 25,000 at that match in total against Tipp last year and as I recall it was split 50/50 between Limerick and Tipp fans. Dont get me wrong, 12,500 is not too bad for an opening round but look at this year - prob 15,000 Limerick supporters at the opening match in Thurlas against Clare this year which we lost, then against Offaly in the Gaelic Grounds last Sat week there was a total attendance of 6,000, of which at least 2,000 were from Offaly. Thats a pretty big drop in numbers since the Clare Match.
Just heard an interview with Mickey Ned O'Sullivan, the Limerick football manager, on 95fm and he was practically begging Limerick people to come and support the footballers next Sat. He asked for something that the Limerick footballers have never had before - a 16th man!!!! IMO its pretty sad that a manager has to do that in "Sporting Limerick".

Karmafaerie

I'd have been there if I hadn't of been at the Andy Lee fight.

Too much choice.