Killarney has over 250 years experience in welcoming visitors. Located in Kerry in the West of Ireland, you can be assured of a warm, Irish welcome when you come to this most beautiful part of Ireland. Killarney is very popular with tourists from all over Europe and the USA who come for the beautiful scenery and warm welcome.From the website: http://www.killarney250.com/

As the Munster football final approaches, many Limerick supporters are searching online for Saturday night accommodation. Google the word Killarney and the above excerpt will appear on the page, summing up for prospective visitors what Killarney is about. The welcoming nature of Killarney might well be accurate in tourist terms, but in footballing terms, the fortress of Fitzgerald Stadium is far from welcoming.

Kerry have not been beaten in a championship match in Killarney since the 1995 Munster final. Putting it mildly Kerry don’t do Munster final losses in Killarney, and when they do lose, all hell breaks loose. An outbreak of a civil war ensued in 1995 and Pat Spillane received hate mail for his comments on ‘The Sunday Game’. A Parish Priest admonished him during his sermon the following week for good measure. Ogie Moran, the then Manager, and a man who soldiered with Spillane for years felt that Spillane was no longer worthy of being on speaking terms with him.

Much of the debate centred on the selection of Dara O’Cinneide, an underage defender cum modern day forward, who probably never played at wing back for Kerry again after the 1995 Munster final. In many ways, it was difficult to see what the fuss was about. Twelve months later under Paidi O’Se and Seamus McGearailt, Kerry had regained their Munster crown for the first time in five years, and a year later in 1997 the Sam Maguire trophy returned to Kerry. All achieved with Dara O’Cinneide in attack. Ogie might not have liked what he heard, but there must surely have been a certain amount of vindication attached to what Spillane said over the following two years. A Limerick victory on Sunday doesn’t enter the Kerry mindset, and all hell could break loose next week if Seanie Buckley makes it up the steps.

In their previous rivalry from 2001 to 2005, Limerick and Kerry met each other six times in championship football, but it’s difficult to believe that five years have passed since the last meeting. In 2001 Kerry were a good bit better but Colm Hickey was unlucky with a goal chance that might have made that 2001 game a bit more like the 2002 game. In 2002, there were chances but Kerry escaped. In 2003 Kerry horsed Limerick out of it below in Killarney (and clocked Stephen Kelly in the process) and then we went on to miss two penalties. But we weren’t good enough in 2003. We were good enough in 2004 though, when we had the chances but lacked that bit of guile. In 2005 the boat had set sail a year earlier and we had missed it. The boat probably set sail between the drawn and replayed Munster finals of 2004. Limerick dipped a little following the departure of John Quane, Diarmuid Sheehy, Damian Reidy and Liam Kearns, but the arrival of Donie Buckley and some kids over the last couple of years has offset that and we are on the upward curve again.

Meanwhile, some of the under 21 team from 2000 still remain. Mark O’Riordan, Conor Mullane, Stephen Lucey, John Galvin and Conor Fitzgerald will all be involved on Sunday. They say you should only get two or three players from any decent underage team. These boys have given great service and but for injury and hurling commitments, they would have given even more. Throw in Tommy Stack, Jason Stokes, Pat Ahern and a few more who are no longer around and its plain to see that we have milked the 2000 under-21 cow for what it was worth.

But the kids have really energised this outfit. Ian Ryan and Ger Collins are two scoring forwards and Collins is an inside-line primary ball winner of the highest quality. Ian Ryan needs to be put away into space to finish. Cork man marked him in the second half of last year’s Munster final, and were prepared to sacrifice, leaving Padraig Browne free if there was a mismatch. If worked for them as Browne didn’t take the chances that Ryan would have. This year we need to ensure that Ryan is freed up even when man marked. That may require constant recycling of possession in the opposition half of the field, but so be it. James Ryan, another young gun, when properly utilised, is a driving force. Cormac Joyce Power is an option, but would be far more with greater application. And the return of Jim Donovan from professional rugby with Leinster has enhanced matters around the middle of the field. Overall you would have to say that Limerick of 2009 have departed the nadir of 2007 and have regrouped to become stronger than they were back in 2004 and 2005.

Kieran Donaghy was not on the scene back then and he is a massive weapon to have in any team’s armoury. He has got it all, pace, athleticism, good hands and good feet. His footballing ability is often underrated but he has a track record of getting serious scores under pressure. Graham Canty found the going tough against him in the Cork replay. The Gooch seems to flourish more when Donaghy is going well, and never seemed to have the same telepathic relationship with Tommy Walsh. Of all the Kerry players those are the two that need the most watching. They seemed to get too much of a supply of ball from outfield against Cork, and the primary task for the outfield Limerick players is to deny them the supply of early ball that they can do damage with.

The big worry is the ability of the Gooch to win or engineer frees particularly when Kerry need scores the most. Granted the Gooch is fouled, but he gets the benefit of the doubt at times when there is no obvious free. If a couple of Limerick defenders are around the Gooch defending as was the case in Killarney when he was awarded the late free, the defenders must be mentally sharp enough to ensure they hold their hands up in the air for the referee to see them, that they ensure that there is no way that the Gooch can tangle his legs among theirs. No element of doubt can be allowed to enter the referee’s mind. Patrick Fox needs to be able to look at the scenario and say to himself with certainty that it definitely wasn’t a free. The Limerick defenders have a lot to do in this regard, more so than against any other opposition or opponent. The Division 4 fair play award was won by Limerick earlier this year, but the awareness required when defending against gamesmanship at this level is on a different platform.

The Limerick team named for Sunday is the same as that named to face Waterford. There were positional switches that day, and there will be positional switches on Sunday. Word on the street is that Stephen Lucey will line out at full back on Kieran Donaghy with Johnny McCarthy in the corner on the Gooch. Many believe that Stephen Lavin is the man to mark Declan O’Sullivan but the management are believed to have other ideas in mind. Kerry of 2010 are weaker on paper than Kerry of 2009 but they still managed to get a result against Cork and demolished Tipperary once they got going. So whatever they look like on paper, they certainly aren’t floundering on the field. That said, there is no Dara Ó’Sé anymore, and Galvin will be missed. Tadhg Kennelly will need bodyguards when he returns for his holidays. But for Galvin, Cork were home and dry in the drawn game in Killarney a few weeks ago. Galvin will be back when Kerry need him, and there are rumblings that Tommy Walsh will assist them in August. They are probably happy with their lot for now, and to be honest they seem to aim to peak for September.

For Limerick to win, we need every break going and a Kerry team below par. We won’t win a high scoring shootout but we could win a war of attrition. In last year’s Munster final we blitzed Cork with scores from play in the firs