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Thu 15-Jan-2009 15:01

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Emmet Moloney

C'mon Munster - Your Limerick needs you!

Emmet Moloney writes for the 'Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

Does sport really matter when so many people’s jobs are under threat or gone? Emmet Moloney thinks so. And the proof will be on show in Limerick this Friday night...

I don’t know about you but I’ve stopped watching the news. We know this is the blackest January of all time, so we don’t need George Lee telling us that at six o’clock every evening. Then the Dell announcement came. And I got to thinking about Limerick. A city that has been pummelled in recent years with gang warfare, murders, fear and loathing and only Munster rugby to lift their spirits. Does sport matter? Ask the people of Limerick.

This Friday night, Sale come to Thomond. Munster are not firing on all cylinders at the moment, but they have to win on Friday night. This is about more than rugby. It is about the spirit of a city. 1,900 well-paid jobs are gone and probably thousands more in spin-offs. Depression is in the air Shannonside. They need a lift. The Men in Red have to provide it. For one night we can all forget the mess we’re in. For one night all that matters is beating Sale and getting through to the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup. Looking forward to the quarter-finals will sustain us for another few months. Limerick needs that boost.

Some day an economics research student will trip on the perfect project – finding out how much sport really matters financially to a village, town, city or country. The confidence that surges through a place in the wake of such a success should be quantified. There are wonderful cases in point waiting to be explored.

Take Donegal, for instance. There isn’t a wall goes up in that county that doesn’t have a picture of the 1992 All-Ireland champions on it. And rightly so. The lift they got when Sam went to the hills changed the attitude of the entire county and that of Donegal men and women everywhere.

Having gone to college in Galway with a lot of Donegal folk and one lass in particular, the reckless student that I was in September 1992, I hitched from Clare to Letterkenny on the Monday after the match. I arrived in town around the same time as Sam Maguire. I will never forget the atmosphere or the reaction of grown men. Whole streets of people in tears. Special is not a strong enough word.

Derry, Armagh, Clare and Wexford all enjoyed the same euphoria. And that euphoria now with Tyrone means more than football. It means holding your head higher. After ’95, Clare men were suddenly listened to when they had an opinion about hurling. (Only then were we dismissed!)

When your county wins, all is right with the world. And when that county is making a breakthrough, the world positively changes. And with the world the way it is, please God let Mayo win the football this year.

Sport can and does paper over cracks. This is what makes Limerick unique in the rugby world. In the professional era, a small place like Limerick is carrying an outfit like Munster. Thomond Park has been rebuilt as a fantastic stadium in no time at all (think how long it has taken the IRFU and FAI to try and do the same, while Leinster play in an equestrian arena). Thousands travel abroad to follow them and, incredibly, from a Limerick base hail the champions of Europe.

Ireland is often compared to Manchester, which boasts a host of professional clubs in its area. It houses United and City as well as a few more lower-division sides. We have Leinster, Connacht, Ulster and Munster. Dublin, with its population base and affluence, like Belfast and Galway, should have natural advantages that Limerick cannot match. But match them they do. Not only that, the might of English and French rugby is also matched and surpassed. This is an achievement that is up there with Padraig Harrington’s recent feats.

The cribbers among you will point to the IRFU’s funding of Munster and that’s a semi-fair point, but don’t forget this, while the IRFU pay for some of the Munster set-up, it is Limerick that owns them. Nurtures them. Cradles them. Picks them up. Revels in them. And now depends on them.

(I can picture the Cork supporters jumping up and down at this, not to mention Clare, Tipperary, Kerry and Waterford followers. And we are many and proud, but honesty is called for here. This team has its heart in Limerick.)

That iconic moment in the Heineken Cup final of 2006 when the stadium cameras in Cardiff flashed to O’Connell Street in Limerick said it all. There was nothing fair-weather about that support. None of your Jack’s Army or Bodhrán Brigade here. Every single player referred to that split-second glimpse in the post-match interviews. The sight of their people gave them that extra 1%. And these are the small edges that make the difference between winning and losing at that level.

So Friday is important beyond the realms of sport. This is one of those times when it crosses over into “real life”. If you cannot make the match, watch it closely on television. There will be a reaction from the players. They feel the city’s pain and they will be the first to recognise how crucial a win is. It’s one of those chances to give something back and they will take it.

Down south this week we will be talking about George Hook rather than George Lee. Can you blame us?

To catch Emmet's latest column, get 'The Farmers' Journal' every Thursday...

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