Limerick officials will seek to salvage the club's Eircom League status when they meet members of the FAI's licensing committee in Dublin this afternoon. The club has so far been denied the licence it requires if it is to compete at national level next season
There is growing pessimism on all sides regarding their chances of achieving the required standard between now the start of the new campaign.
While club officials have said they remain unsure even about the grounds on which they failed to secure a B licence in recent weeks there is said to be considerable disappointment at Merrion Square over the standard of their application which, it is reported, fell short in a wide range of areas.
The club's position appears to have been weakened by the decision to grant Shamrock Rovers a B licence on appeal last weekend. The result is Limerick is the only club without a licence of any kind.
With league officials due to present fixture lists to clubs' representatives tomorrow at a board of management meeting it is anticipated two programmes will be provided for the first division - one with and one without Limerick. The club will have only a couple of weeks to prevent their exclusion from the league. If they fail there would inevitably be a major question mark over the continued existence of the club.
"The threat that we won't be in the league next season is clearly a very real one now," said Limerick manager Mike Kerley yesterday. "At this stage, though, it might even end up being the best thing for us because it would provide an opportunity for everyone to take a step back and get things together.
"If we do get a licence at this stage it's going to leave us with problems getting a squad together in just a couple of weeks because we've lost six or eight players from last season and another couple are set to sign for other people now."
Kerley, who greatly enhanced his reputation by guiding the team to the promotion play-offs last season despite huge problems off the pitch, has been offered a contract for the next two years by the club's board. He has also been encouraged to sign players despite the uncertainty surrounding the club's future.
Club chairman Michael O'Sullivan, in common with his board members, has repeatedly signalled his willingness to step aside if new backers are found for the club. But it appears that after more than six decades of involvement with senior football, long a source of considerable pride to the people of Limerick who enthusiastically supported the city's club until its fortunes began to ebb at about the start of the '80s, could be about to end, for the foreseeable future at least.
