Mind games unlikely to matter against Derry power

Limerick v Derry: Whatever about the pros and cons of the qualifier route, the Limerick footballers find themselves in the unenviable position of playing the game that could well define their season six days after losing the Munster football final replay to Kerry.

It's asking a lot of any team to play for three successive weekends and it's worse when they've just come so close, twice, to landing a coveted provincial title - 108 years after winning the last one.

The effects of such a predicament were evident in the Limerick team last summer, when they crashed out heavily to Armagh - 4-10 to 0-11 - again just a week after falling to Kerry in the Munster final.

Derry don't present quite as daunting a task as Armagh, the then All-Ireland champions, did last year and yet they are a team at the other end of the championship spectrum - revitalised, confident, and not afraid to play anyone.

Yet there is something different about Limerick this year that suggests they won't collapse nearly as easily - if they collapse at all.

First, they've benefited significantly from a rewarding run in the national league, which included another good battle with Kerry, and have proven they are a consistent and mature team rather than a developing one.

And when the final whistle blew in Killarney last Sunday the Limerick players didn't throw their hands up in despair, appearing like a team at their wits end because of their failure to overcome Kerry.

There was a sort of quiet acceptance that perhaps they just weren't good enough to beat their more gifted neighbours. But there was no resignation.

Liam Kearns has also stated his future is to be decided after this season and the respect he has earned within the panel guarantees they will give it one more great crack this afternoon.

They've named the same team as last Sunday, and if they get another good half out of John Quane and some further scoring heroics from Stephen Kelly, Muiris Gavin and Eoin Keating then they certainly won't be far off at the finish.

What is certain though is that they are facing a Derry team on the rise again. That hopeless show against Tyrone back on May 9th now seems a season of Sundays ago and by beating Wicklow, Cavan and just last week Wexford, they've gathered this almost unstoppable momentum.

The 11-point win over Wexford was particularly impressive. Paddy Bradley was definitely back to his finest form (scoring 0-8) while Enda Muldoon and substitute Dominic McIvor coolly collected the two goals in the 2-16 total.

Defensively they're looking a lot more solid too, with SeáMarty Lockhart back on the bench if needed and Kevin McGuckian helping to stem much of the Mattie Forde influence last Saturday.

Derry manager Mickey Moran seems a lot more relaxed and confident about his team in recent weeks in terms of their preparations, mood and ability. Yet he's admitted too that Limerick will present the most difficult challenge to date - after Tyrone, of course.

Much of it then will depend on the mood of the Limerick players when they get to Hyde Park this afternoon.

They have been working with the highly rated sports psychologist Brendan Hackett and that combined with Kearns's steady head should have them in good mental condition.

The rest then will be physical, and right now that's where Derry seem to have enough in reserve to book their place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.