STUART TAYLOR LEFT Limerick one week ago and the club have moved swiftly to bring in his replacement — Martin Russell.
There was a lot of hype about Limerick when they came into the Premier Division in 2013. They are playing at Thomond Park (although I know they are looking to move back to The Market Fields), they have pretty much a full-time team and have a lot going for them.
It’s difficult to know how things are going off the field, but from what I understand there is an awful lot of work being done by the club. However, I’d have to be honest and say I’ve seen little or no progression in the team at all in terms of football.
You can put last season down to the fact that it was their first season back in the top flight and they were trying to develop a squad but I really expected them to push on this year. It hasn’t happened though.
They haven’t been impressive at all and I actually think they were a slightly better team last season. The likes of Joe Gamble, Stephen Bradley and David O’Leary were big losses.
The chairman has given it every opportunity but when only 250 supporters turned up for the game against Bohemians last week, that was probably the final straw.
He believed something needed to change. That may not necessarily be anyone’s fault but I think things had just become static so they’ve parted ways and that could suit Stuart Taylor as much as it suits Limerick FC.
Elsewhere, the European results of Dundalk, Sligo Rovers and Derry City over the past week were very positive.
There’s obviously a financial reward coming to the three teams for getting through to the second round qualifiers of the Europa League but they’ve also got good teams to play against.
You look at Sligo Rovers who meet Rosenborg while Dundalk come up against Hadjuk Split of Croatia.
It’s fair to say that they did the business over the two legs. I spoke two weeks ago about the fact that LOI clubs have underperformed and let themselves down in recent years but they’ve certainly addressed that so far this year.
I wasn’t surprised that all three of them went through the amount of goals they racked up in doing so did surprise me a little. It’s a really good sign and bodes well for the next set of games.
The important thing is that they don’t go into the second round in any way complacent. They could be going from a situation where they completely dominated to one where they might only get one or two opportunities to score in the game.
Discipline will be key. As a player, I felt it took time to get used to the fact that you are playing technically-superior players and will be getting the runaround for a lot of the game.
It can be a bit of a cat and mouse affair but once you get used to that then you can go and take the opportunities when they do come your way.
St Patrick’s Athletic meet Legia Warsaw in the Champions League tomorrow night and that’s going to be a hugely difficult game. That said, they are more than capable of winning it but a lot will have to go right for them.
