Askeaton would have been the main home venue for the Limerick Footballers in the 80’s and possibly early 90’s. The stand is a relic from that time. It also used to have a “tunnel” onto the field which was pretty cool as a young lad.
I am being very optimistic . Depends. Interest is low enough TBH .
That may be true, although we had a few matches in the Bog Garden last year and they were all beautiful sunny days.
I suppose the reason is that on a Championship weekend, there could be upwards of 20 matches and there definitely aren’t 20 grounds in the county with stands. Now I know some grounds double up, but even still.
I remember the days when playing in claughan meant a trip to the bar . No one does that now.
I’ve no issue with that, just don’t charge people who go out to watch it if you aren’t going to provide the facilities.
I seem to remember going to see Limerick play in Askeaton when I was very young. I’d say it was a League game but that would have been the mid-90s.
Unless my father took me to see some other team wearing green and told me they were Limerick, I probably wouldn’t have known any better.
The eighties and nineties were boom times for the west board . The junior championships were particularly lucrative .
I remember the days when Claughan were able to field a senior hurling & football team on their own, halycon days.
They won the double in 1986 .
League games went ahead in Askeaton intermittently in the 90’s, similar to how they occasionally use NCW now. But it hosted nearly all home games at one stage in the 80’s. Used to get great crowds with the heart of Limerick support based around there, but the facilities aren’t suitable for intercounty level anymore, not that NCW is much better mind.
The surface was a lot better then and you had the dressing room area fully enclosed with the tunnel onto the pitch.
There was also a prefabricated clubhouse type thing but I only ever remember that being in serious disrepair.
Also, what’s the story with the U-21 Championship? Obviously the rule that county players must be released for Championship doesn’t apply to U-21. I don’t really have a problem myself with playing league matches and even division championship games without them, I suppose you get to give other lads a run and try things for Championship (although it’s still not ideal).
But it makes a mockery of the whole U-21 grade if you’ve got a must-win game and you’re without your best players. It just means other players get pissed off, and is just disheartening in general. Then you get other lads not turning up/taking it seriously because the best players clearly don’t. Just all seems a bit futile.
They won the football 5 times in the 1980’s and they didn’t give one fuck about football at time either apparently, very much a second fiddle to the hurling.
Most successful non-defunct Limerick Football club, and the most successful dual club by a mile. Sad to see them where they are now.
For all the talk of West Limerick being the home football, a look at the roll of honour would show that of the Top 10 most successful clubs in the Senior Football Championship, 6 were from the city, 1 from the east and 3 from the west.
Had some decent hurlers at underage level in recent years tbf, although it may have been primarily Old Christians, I’m not sure. But since they’re joined at adult grade, you’d expect them to improve over the next few years.
Never planned for the demographic problems that were coming down the track . Also the club was very family based . They never had a feeder school . Also they always had a number of outsiders .
The football teams of the 80s/ early nineties we largely hurlers and a number of soccer / rugby players .
I think for West Board fixtures the percentage is not even 15%, I think it could be as low as 5%. I’d be surprised if County Board games were 15% to be honest
They have a huge chunk of the city to choose from, it’s more a lack of work underage than demographics that have been their downfall. Pat’s put in all the work underage and took all the young lads that would have been theirs, they resorted to poaching Pat’s lads for a few years when Pat’s were at lower levels than them, but now that Pat’s have surpassed them the flow is in the other direction.
Remember when UL were in the championship until they won one once and everyone went mental and fucked them out
The UL side was on a different level to Limerick senior club sides of the time, of which perhaps 8 or 9 of the 12 were very evenly matched. They frightened the clubs. Except for Galbally who went out to “bate” them in the 97 final, nearly succeeded on the pitch, got 3 red cards and then finally won the title on a technicality at the Munster council.
We lost the 98 semi-final to Caseys who then lost the final to UL. I reckon they were gone by the following season.