Dual dilemma: The Limerick experience

With some regret, Dave Quirke recalls the Limerick county board's failure to build on the county's football breakthrough of 1965 when they reached a Munster final, only to be beaten by Kerry.

"There was no building on that year," recalls Quirke, a veteran of that team who also managed the county's footballers in the mid 1990s. "It went downhill fast after that. Gary McMahon, a Kerry man, trained us that year and we had a good run in the league. We were in a weak group with Tipperary, Waterford and Clare, so we were able to string a few wins together and gain some confidence. We beat Cork in Killarney to get to the Munster final."

Among the players involved in the '65 Munster final were a few that also played inter-county hurling. "Eamonn Cregan was on that team, although he played very little after that, and you also had Bernie Hartigan, who also won an All-Ireland hurling medal in 1973. Then you had Pat Murphy and Mick Tynan, who were hurlers in 1955 (Limerick beat Clare in the Munster final that year)."

While dual players were - and are - common enough at club level, they are less so at intercounty level. The geographical divide in the county partly explains this. "West Limerick is where most football is played," says Quirke, "and pockets of the south like Ballylanders and the east of the county around Oola. In the city Claughaun and Monaleen were football and hurling clubs, but less so now."

There are parallels between the 1965 experience and more modern Limerick dual players. Danny Fitzgerald, just like Tynan and Murphy in '65, played football after his hurling career was over. In 1984 and '85, he played on winning Limerick hurling league teams; in '91 he featured in Limerick's Munster football final clash with Kerry.

Then there is the current crop, who have enjoyed under-21 success in both football and hurling. Brian Begley and Brian Geary have thrown their lot in with the hurlers, while Stephen Lucey, after a rocky hurling championship debut last year, is now with the footballers.