FOR an incredible third occasion in 2025, Limerick senior footballers will line out at Croke Park through an historic Tailteann Cup final against Kildare on Saturday fortnight (July 12, 2.30pm).
It will be the curtain-raiser to a semi-final of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
In Sunday’s semi-final at GAA Headquarters (attendance: 14,000), the Shannonsiders came from a grim seven points adrift to fashion an awesome 2-18 to 1-17 victory.
It was arguably a comeback of the ages.
That closing quarter recovery was spearheaded by goalkeeper Josh Ryan (and impact substitutes Bob Childs, Barry Coleman, and Darragh Murray) who kicked a couple of two-pointer frees and blocked a penalty.
“It means a lot to be fair,” the Man of the Match told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
“The football people of Limerick, we haven’t given them too many days out. But thankfully, our time has kind of come now and it’s about getting to a final and going that next step.
“I’m looking forward to a final. We’ve prepared but have got a lot more preparation to go as well. So we’ll take that as it comes.
“I think this team has showed a lot of resilience the whole way through the year. We had two losses at the start of the league. And we just stayed resilient. We kept close as a group, there’s serious camaraderie within us.”
A class goal from Danny Neville had Limerick narrow, 1-7 to 0-9, half-time leaders.
This season, Limerick have already beaten Wexford in both the quarter-final of the competition and the Division Four league decider at the famed Jones’ Road venue.
In the other Tailteann semi-final, Kildare came through against Fermanagh.
Ahead of a return to Dublin, Limerick have injury concerns around Iain Corbett, Emmet Rigter and lead scorer James Naughton.
The outright winners will earn automatic qualification for the group stages of the 2026 All-Ireland Senior Championship.
In our storied history, an All-Ireland Football Championship title has only been achieved twice, way back in 1887 and 1896.
