When climbing from a lower rung of the League ladder, the first objective is typically safety and stability at the higher altitude.
Rejoining the League’s third tier this season, following the briefest of stays in the basement division, the Limerick footballers had no interest in consolidation. The Treaty travelled too far last year to be content with simply holding on in Division 3.
They want a return to Croke Park for the fourth time in the space of 12 months. They want a return to Division 2, as was achieved under Billy Lee in 2022.
That target did not change in the face of only a single point being mined from their opening two games. That target is firmly back in focus after a first Division 3 League victory across their most recent 11 attempts.
“Ah no,” replied Limerick forward James Naughton when asked if consolidation was the chief target this spring. “We have an ambitious group and the goal is always to push on, so the goal was and is to look towards getting back to Croke Park and getting to Division 2. This win gives us a chance and the opportunity to do that over the next few weeks.”
The smash-and-grab injury-time victory over Wexford delivered a first Division 3 win since the final weekend of round-robin action in 2022. The subsequent decider against Louth, all seven outings from the 2024 edition, and the opening two games of the current iteration all failed to produce victory. In fact, nine of the 10 ended in defeat.
In that context, Sunday at Rathkeale against table-toppers Wexford fell into the must-win category. Naughton’s 0-7 haul, including a 69th minute orange flag to halve a four-point deficit, was central in the come-from-behind 1-15 to 1-14 result, as was his injury-time goal effort that sub Peter Nash eventually squeezed over the white paint for the winning green flag. They head to Sligo this Sunday one point off the promotion places.
“There was a small bit of pressure coming in, and we spoke before the game that it was a crucial two points. We haven’t started the best; we got out of Laois with a point and then the Down game didn’t go our way, so we knew this was massive,” the St Senan’s clubman continued.
“This is a huge result to get us looking up the table. It gives us a good platform and gives us the opportunity to build across the next few games. A draw probably wouldn’t have been enough for us here. We were really pushing to get the win. At this level, you have to go for the juguler, as we did in injury-time.”
As a result of an extensive injury list, Limerick’s starting team contained just six players who began last July’s Tailteann Cup final defeat to Kildare. They never led until second-half injury-time.
The belief that the game was never gone from them, according to Naughton, stems from a 2025 campaign where Limerick lost just once across their 12 outings from Round 3 of Division 4 all the way to the Tailteann Cup semi-final.
“The belief started last year when we got on a winning sequence. We are well-coached, that gives us belief then to execute the game-plan on the day. Everyone is on the same page and that really helps when we go out to pull off the performance.
“The atmosphere was brilliant here in Rathkeale too. We felt that against Down, even though we unfortunately didn’t get the win that day. The last 10 minutes, the crowd really drove us on and luckily we were able to repay them with something.”
