By Andrew Cunneen While the stability of Limerick football has fluctuated over the last 20 years, throughout the most turbulent of times stood one near-constant. Whether it was ‘FC’ or ‘37’, it seemed that nobody was as synonymous with the sport
By Andrew Cunneen
While the stability of Limerick football has fluctuated over the last 20 years, throughout the most turbulent of times stood one near-constant. Whether it was ‘FC’ or ‘37’, it seemed that nobody was as synonymous with the sport on Shannonside during that time, as Paddy Purcell.
Reflecting on a career at Limerick totalling ten seasons, the 38-year-old openly admits he has plenty of regrets, disappointments and even one or two grudges. However, the overriding feeling is one of disbelief – disbelief at just how highly people in the Treaty City speak of him. He understands that if that is to be his legacy, then the struggles were worth every second.
As is so often the case, these stories contain an irony. Purcell’s irony, is that he has spent very little of his non-footballing life in Limerick at all.
“I was born in Dublin, but only lived there for a year or two. I lived in Limerick then, but moved to Shannon when I was four. I’ve been living there up until very recently – and I now live in Ennis,” he revealed.
These days, Limerick FC tends to be made up of players from the SSE Airtricity League; 15 years ago, the first-team squad would have been almost entirely local – with players from junior football providing most of their representation. From the late 90s, Fairview Rangers won six of eight FAI Junior Cups and Purcell had caught their eye. This would be the launching pad for his career.
“Football-wise, I started out in Shannon with Newtown, played with Park Rangers and then Pike Rovers underage before signing up with Park Rangers Junior team. They played in the Limerick league. So, playing with the junior team when I was 16, we were in the second division of Limerick junior soccer at the time," he said.
"We went through the whole season unbeaten; won the league, the Cup and had a great FAI Junior Cup run – beating five Limerick-based Premier Division teams at the time. It was a great time, but I still remember losing away to a poor team in Waterford on penalties – it still hurts to this day. The following season was a different story. We played in the top division and it was a lot tougher for the team. We weren’t winning every week, training numbers were down, but we managed to stay in the Premier which was a success.
“At that stage, and over the previous two seasons I’d been exposed enough to Fairview, who had just won their second FAI Junior Cup. Over the course of that summer, I got a random phone call at home. I was at a crossroads because I was getting into a routine with some of the lads – getting into a culture where you started drinking and going out before games which wasn’t right. It’s funny, because I got the call off Dermot Finnan, randomly.
“I’ve always had this belief that you must try and better yourself to the best of your ability - you need to push yourself. It was never about going to win an FAI Junior Cup with Fairview. They had some brilliant players back then – the likes of Trevor Lovell, Barry Flynn, Kevin McCarthy and Jimmy ‘the goal scoring machine’ Sheehan. That was the attraction. I thought it could be the next step to bigger and better things,” he added.
As luck would have it, his pathway into Fairview wasn’t traditional – but it would eventually provide him with recognition from Gerry Smith – a man who Purcell cites as a great influence on him.
“It transpired that Dermot (Finnan) apparently didn’t remember me too well, but Ian O’Sullivan did. I marked him two or three times that season. He said that I had a bit about me. He was coming to the end of his career at that point, but apparently, he’s the reason I got the call from Dermot. I settled in very quickly. We won an FAI Junior and a Munster Junior Cup that season. I was lucky enough then to be introduced into the Irish Junior International setup then. I got recognised by Gerry Smith (manager of Ireland Amateur team). That was where it started for me in terms of trying to kick on in terms of a football career.
“In my second season with the Irish Junior team, we went to the Isle of Man and the Netherlands for tournaments. During the build-up to that, we played seven or eight League of Ireland teams on Monday and Tuesday nights around Dublin. We played Drogheda, Bohs and Pat’s among a few others. It seemed to be common practice back then. I got a taste of the League of Ireland through that.”
With that taste, came a hunger. Purcell’s never been one for having his head in the clouds, but finding his feet at League of Ireland level proved to him that he could forge some sort of career in the game he had loved since he was a child.
“Playing against Bohs, I remember marking Jamie Harris. He was an animal,” he remarked. “He’d remind you of Jon Walters. We played various other teams and a few managers had got onto Gerry Smith. Gerry said Pat Dolan was interested in bringing me up to Inchicore. I went up on a train to meet them, and signed that day after seeing the ground and the gym area. It’s not a regret, but I did sign a bad deal for myself, financially-speaking and what I mean by that is I would have been one of the lower paid players and with that, it can decrease your chance of playing – a manager isn’t going to play you before playing a guy who’s getting paid seven or eight times more than you. I went on to have a lot of respect for Pat Dolan - particularly for what he did for us in my second season with Waterford United – he totally saved the club from relegation that year, but when I signed or Pat's I didn’t realise at the time he’d sign about 40 players. He’d nearly sign a player so some other team wouldn’t have them.
“I went into a big set-up but didn’t really make the breakthrough. I captained them at U21 level, and while we won that league, I wasn’t making a mark in the first team. I was a bit disillusioned by it. In saying that, we had some serious pre-season games. We played West Ham. Frederic Kanoute was about. Joe Cole and Paolo di Canio were there, too. Razor Ruddock, Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard were part of it – and Harry Redknapp was the manager. I was sitting on the bench, but I got on for the last 10 minutes. I flicked the ball over Trevor Sinclair’s head and that’s about all I did in that game.”
The centre-half gave up a lot to take his chance at League of Ireland level, and while his time at St Pat’s didn’t come to much, it would set the wheels of a legacy in motion.
“In a big pre-season game against Crewe Alexandra, I didn’t do that well. It probably shut the door on me in terms of getting into the first team. So at the end of the first season, I was a bit unsettled, but I told myself I had to give it my all. I wasn’t making a mark. I had transferred my job up to Dublin, but I wasn’t getting any joy with Pat’s. I made up my mind that I was going to move home. Liam Buckley was on to me to see if I would come to Athlone. Noel O’Connor rang me, too. I went to Limerick then, on loan. My last day in Dublin was September 12, 2001.
“With Limerick, I was thrown into the deep end. The money was similar to what I was on at Pat’s, so it wasn’t a factor. It’s never been a driving point for me playing football anyway. However, the club ran out of money a week after I signed and the five or so senior players that were there left. So, we were left with a very young manager and a lot of lads who were very committed. We trained extremely hard and Noel O’Connor ran a tight ship. I enjoyed it because I was playing week in, week out. I learned so much.”
While he may have learned a lot, the season produced very little in terms of league form. What it did produce, bizarrely – was one of only five major Cup wins for the club, as the Blues went on an improbable run.
“That year, we finished bottom. We won the League Cup, though. What a story that was. The draws weren’t favourable along the way, either,” Purcell recalls.
“We played Finn Harps away on a Saturday night in the league. We were then down to play Galway United on the Monday in the League Cup. We got home at four in the morning from Ballybofey, and Noel O’Connor called training for 9am, probably because we’d been so poor. We recovered and trained at the same time.
“Galway were a Premier Division team at the time. We drew 1-1, and then Derek Whyte scored the winner in extra-time. The next tie was Cork away. We beat them one-nil. Derek McCarthy scored the goal on a dirty day at Turner’s Cross. All of a sudden, we found ourselves into the semi-final – against Shamrock Rovers. Damien Richardson was their boss at the time. We played them on a Wednesday afternoon in Jackman Park – beating them one-nil thanks to an unbelievable half-volley from Brian Donnelan after a cross from Ciaran Foley.
“It just doesn’t happen these days. We were bottom of the league but in a cup final.”
Indeed it doesn’t, but indeed they were. Derry City were the opposition.
“The first game was at home – we went 1-0 up, then we were pulled back. We salvaged a winner and then went up to the Brandywell. Honestly, looking back – it was a real mish-mash of a team. We had some real quality players, but also lads that probably just weren’t good enough. The year after we won the league Cup, some of them weren’t even playing football. I gave away a penalty up there, of course. Liam Coyle was up front for them – what a player. We managed to beat them on penalties – I’ll never forget it.
“Jimmy Fyffe was in goals – he was outstanding on the night. He saved the penalty that won it for us. There were probably 10 Limerick fans in among a few thousand Derry. It was bizarre. It was retribution – some sort of reward for the management and players that stuck with the club and trained hard week in week out. Through unknown circumstances, we managed to win a League Cup with some players who genuinely just weren’t good enough for League of Ireland level, but we had some very good players in that group too.”
Perhaps Purcell was right in that some weren’t good enough for the level, but they’re forever enshrined in both the history and the league. However, the reality was that Premier Division football was the objective, and they were a million miles from it. The following year provided some hope, but Derry City wouldn’t be turned over like that again.
“We had some good players in 2003 – the likes of Stephen O’Flynn and Derek McCarthy. We got into a play-off against Derry. Over two leagues against a Premier team, it just wasn’t to be. We played out of Pike Rovers’ ground and had a thirteen-game unbeaten run. During that run, we went up to Kildare with 12 players – one of whom was a sub goalkeeper. Then, the following week we went to Sligo, had 12 players again, some issue happened with the bus, so we had to drive up in cars – we got a 1-1 draw – and it should have been all three points after a dubious penalty given against us. The following day we played a team of players from that Sky programme Dream Team. More players showed up for that, than they did for the game against Sligo. It was good fun at the time.
“After we got to the play-offs, the team broke up. Derek McCarthy and Ciaran Foley went to Galway; Stephen O’Flynn and ‘Sweets’ Sweeney went down to Cork. After a successful year, we were threadbare. I got a phone call at the time from Dublin City. I turned them down, but Waterford rang and I had to go. Even though my Dad was involved with Limerick at the time, I knew it was the right thing to do.”
Swapping Shannonside for Suirside might be seen as treason to some Limerick folk – but the lure of Premier Division football and the fact so many senior players had departed the club he had grown so fond of forced Purcell to take the trip south. There, under Alan Reynolds, Purcell would reach his second Cup final.
“In two seasons down in Waterford, we got to an FAI Cup final and fought off relegation in the second year. The FAI Cup final in 2004 will always stay with me.
“I severely damaged ankle ligaments about two months beforehand, but I got through a league game the week before the final, so I played. We went 1-0 up, but Longford managed to get an equaliser in the 87th minute. This still annoys me. Alan Reynolds, who was player-manager at the time, was marking [Alan Kirby] from a throw. As they were about to take the throw, a second ball came on the pitch and Alan walked over to the referee pointing out the issue. The ref plays on – they take a throw – and the ball comes back to [Kirby] who smacks it into the top corner. Alan [Reynolds] would have been marking him in normal circumstances. They then go on and score in the 90th minute. As enjoyable as it was to get there, to play at Landsdowne Road, in front of 10,000 fans, I just wish the outcome was different. I’ve a lot of regret there. It still hurts; so much so I’ve never watched the game back.
“The second year in Waterford, it was slightly unstable. We went through four managers that season. We started off with Alan Reynolds. He left after an away game in Finn Harps. We hadn’t been hitting the same standards as the previous year. His assistant stepped up, but left to go to America after two weeks. Brendan Rae took over then. He’s a seriously nice fella, but he wasn’t manager material. Then, Pat Dolan, unofficially, came in. Honestly, he’s one of the best managers I’ve ever seen. He had a squad of 20 players and got every last ounce of performance from us. I’ve huge respect for him because of that. We stayed up thanks to a six-pointer against Shamrock Rovers in Dalymount Park. Kick-off was delayed because of the amount of smoke from the flares – it was an incredible atmosphere.”
Purcell’s time at Waterford was done as the comforts of home were calling. A seemingly new era had begun at Limerick and the temptation was too much to turn down.
“My mind was made up that I wanted to go back to Limerick after that,” Purcell outlined. “Noel O’Connor was in charge and Danny Drew was involved. They put together a strong proposal that the club was moving in the right direction. Lo and behold, I was only in the door a few months and Noel was sacked. Danny then told a few senior players at the time that he was getting a manager in. In reality, Danny took over. He was the manager. Sometimes you look back and question your sanity regarding some of the situations you ended up being involved in.
“The first game that Danny took over was against Derry. They had the likes of Paddy McCourt and Mark Farren in the team. They were a serious outfit. We lost two-nil. It wasn’t without dignity, but Danny came in after the game and told us it was embarrassing; that he didn’t care if we were playing Barcelona – it wasn’t good enough. This is the same Danny Drew who had six-foot-five Brian Buckley out taking corners in training. You couldn’t make it up.”
Drew is just one of Limerick’s many colourful owners throughout their existence, but Purcell recalls one particular highlight of his tenure at the club.
“This is the same Danny Drew that decided one night, because Paul Finucane was working late, he would fly us up to play Shamrock Rovers. I think Aer Lingus had the Fokker 50 at the time. In the same game, we were losing 3-0 at half-time, with our keeper sent off. Danny came in at half-time and told us the game was there for us to go and win it. It’s funny how some things just lodge in the memory bank. We got the bus back, but not to Shannon airport, where everyone’s cars were. No, we got the bus back to the Greenhills Hotel. Lads had to get taxis from the hotel, out to Shannon, to drive back in home.”
As bad as things seemed then, it soon became clear that Limerick wouldn’t be awarded a license ahead of the 2007 League season, under the current set-up. Very late in the day, a group got together to submit an application under the name ‘Limerick 37’, and yet another distinctive chapter in the club’s history began.
Initially, it was quite a success. ‘37’ merchandise flew off the shelves of the city centre-based club shop and attendances were up. Jack McCarthy, an American businessman took over the running of the club and Paul McGee was appointed manager. Purcell has mixed memories of that time.
“Back in 2006, lines of communication weren’t great. We heard an announcement on the radio saying Limerick weren’t getting a licence under the current set-up. That’s when Limerick 37 was born. I wasn’t a lover of it – it didn’t sit well with me at the start. However, I got the meaning behind it, obviously. It did sound very American, which you’d expect.
“2007 was weird. We had a great squad and were flying atop the league midway through it. Paul ‘Ski’ McGee was our gaffer. I’ve great time for him, but he was too much of a joker at times. Barry Ryan was his assistant manager. Barry or players would be recommending drills, and Paul would get involved in all of them. We’d be doing warm-ups and ‘Ski’ would tell us to slow down because he couldn’t keep up with the pace.
“It was kind of a good year, but Cobh won the league. Funnily enough, Stephen Henderson rang me pre-season and asked me if I was interested in going down there – but I told him I didn’t think they’d any chance of winning the league. That was probably one of my more naive moments.”
2008 started and ended the same way the 2007 season faded out – in mediocrity.
2009 was the year everything changed for Limerick. Reversion to the ‘FC’ moniker was only the beginning. Mike Kerley left the club and financial worries were soon eased by Pat O’Sullivan in July of that year. While Purcell admits that none of what came after would have been possible without the owner, Kerley’s successor transformed the club entirely.
“Pat Scully came in, in March. I was away on my honeymoon, and when I came home, he was the manager. Before I went, I spoke to the then-manager Mike Kerley and he told me things would be sorted. From the outset, Pat’s approach to management was so far ahead of anything I’d seen at Limerick at that point. He commanded so much from the players and the staff – he was very clear and was ambitious. It was like a breath of fresh air. To go from complete uncertainty throughout the years to [Scully] bringing in these ideas, it was night and day.”
2009 set the stage, but Limerick fluffed their lines in a competitive 2010 First Division. Finishing only a few points outside the play-off spots, Purcell isolates a game in Monaghan where the season was up in the air. They would go on to draw 0-0 and realistically end all hope of nabbing a top-three spot.
“I went on a run in Monaghan. I was one-v-one with their [Gabriel Sava], but I squared it to Shane Clarke and with an open goal, he put it past the post. Look, I think you get back from a season what you deserve. We were probably good enough, but some of the squad players we had that year weren’t always at the races. If we won the game in Gortakeegan, we’d have been in the play-off.”
The year that followed saw Purcell and co finish just three points off champions Cork City, yet still manage to miss out on the play-offs. In what was the tightest First Division to date, Limerick were still the odd ones out. Yet, 2011 had its footnotes. Monaghan United were awarded a win over Finn Harps, despite playing out a 0-0 draw, due to a Harps player being ineligible. Limerick also threw away two points against Salthill Devon – affording them one of just 11 they’d pick up that year. Purcell remembers it well.
“Actually, I blame the management on that night. We were going extremely well. On the same night, the management wanted to rest myself and Barry Ryan. The thinking was that we were going to play loads of football against them, as they’d sit off us but like any game in Jackman Park – it was always going to end up in a battle. The ball dropped on the edge of the box and one of our players tried to take a touch instead of lumping it. Myself or Barry would have screamed to hoof it – but [Geraghty] puts it in the top corner from outside the box. I thought dropping Barry and I was a bad decision.”
The pain felt that season would push Pat Scully to new levels of discipline and finally, with Joe Gamble and Denis Behan on board for a full year, Purcell’s career-long goal of getting Limerick promoted was realised.
“In 2012, the professionalism went up another notch. Prior to that, if I was working, I’d have met the guys at a meeting point in Dublin, like the Red Cow. But, that year, it wasn’t allowed. We all felt we’d go on and win it. We lost to Waterford four times – it took a bit of gloss off us winning the league. Even still, we won it. It was a home game against Athlone. The ball came in from the right and Sean Brosnan booted it into the top corner. It felt like the clincher, even if the job wasn’t done.”
While that game may have sealed it in the players’ minds, it wasn’t over yet. Waterford could still mathematically catch Limerick, but would go on to lose to Mervue United at the RSC. Finally, after eighteen long years, the Shannonsiders were back in the top flight.
“My daughter was born five days before the Waterford v Mervue game. So, I remember that day very well because we brought her home from the hospital then. It was hectic. I had the radio on in the background, and I’d heard it was a draw – which was enough for us to win the league. I remember news coming through that Mervue scored a second with not long left. I was bouncing around the house with my parents, my five-day-old daughter and Claire. It was a huge moment, and such a relief - surreal.
“For me, that week was special. My daughter was born, and I’d experienced something I’d wanted for nearly a decade. I hadn’t slept the Saturday night because it was an overnight labour. I went home the Sunday evening – got twenty minutes’ sleep. I got my stuff and went back to the hospital. About eleven o’clock the next morning, someone came in and said they’d spend a few hours with Claire and the baby. I was going to go home, and Pat Scully rang. I explained the situation and asked if I could miss training. He laughed and said no. It was too big of a week, we had an away game in Longford on the Saturday and the season was in our hands, so he said I needed to be there. Katie-Jane was less than twenty-four hours old, we had a full overnight labour with no sleep, but with me being captain, he said he didn’t mind if I just went through the motions, but I needed to be there, overall – it was the right thing to do. That’s just an example of how blinkered he was. I’ve huge respect for him – he’s by far the best manager I’ve ever had, the most rounded, but not without his flaws – who is really? Sure once Mervue did the business for us on the Friday night, my presence at the previous Monday night’s training was a moot point(!)”
Only a few weeks after Limerick celebrated promotion, the club cut ties with Pat Scully – a move that Purcell believes cost them stability going forward.
“It felt like regression when Pat went. We cut our cloth to measure – he never instructed us not to play football. In my opinion, the biggest mistake the club made was getting rid of Pat Scully. He had a plan. He had five or six players earmarked – Pat Hoban and John Mountney were two of those. I was possibly on the periphery of that plan, and I was fine with that because Pat was ruthless – in the right way in keeping with his beliefs. The parting of ways between Scully and the club for me, is the biggest mistake the club have made in the last number of years.”
Stuart Taylor was appointed in January 2013 to the post, but Purcell believes that he knew from early on that it would end in failure.
“My understanding was that Stuart Taylor got the job based on an interview over Skype. Then his assistant came in – Malky Thomson – and they never really got on from day dot. Both men were giving out different instructions, not presenting a united front – it was crazy.
“There’s a major sadness for me around how my time with Limerick ended. Stuart showed disrespect to the league in general. He thought that if you hadn’t been to England, you weren’t good enough. Managers are meant to instill confidence in players, but he did the opposite. That season, we went away from opposition analysis and brilliant man management to nothingness.
“According to Stuart, I wasn’t the best ball-playing centre half. We had completely different principles. I wanted team shape, structure and for the team to be resolute. I wasn’t convinced what we were doing was good enough.
“We played UCD away and I came on with half an hour to go. A corner came in, and I did the ligaments in my ankle. That fairly much ended my season, despite being on the bench for a couple of games. I knew it was my last season, so I wanted to play through the pain and did everything I could to feature competitively before the end of the season. I chose not to feature in the final game out of respect for myself, but also to highlight my lack of respect for the manager. I had no respect for him in any way, shape or form. I couldn’t really say anything at the time, because it would have just sounded like sour groups, but honestly - he just bluffed his way through what he was doing. We didn’t do team shape in training, no video analysis of opponents, or ourselves, no real tactics – it was like we had gone back 15 years.”
While the sparkly new Limerick FC that Purcell has dreamt about for years would ultimately be the reason he chose to retire from the game, it was mission complete for him.
“There’s disappointment looking back on that season, but overall – I’m proud of what I did. I still love the club – every aspect of it. I’ve a lot of time for the fans who put their money in, and some of the players that are still there.
I recently played a Friday night Oscar Traynor game in Galway; the quality of the surface, the stand, the lights - all brought so many great memories flooding back from my LOI days. It’s hard to describe it, but all I can say is that if you’re a young player coming through and you get the chance to play LOI – just go for it.
“To be picked in various PFAI Team of the Year selections was brilliant. Respect from peers got me through some of the tougher financial and emotional times with Limerick.
“The League of Ireland is the biggest test you can give yourself in this country in terms of football. Week in, week out – you have to be at your best. That’s not a cliché in Ireland – it’s a fact.
“I look back at my time playing LOI with a lot of pride, having played with or against players like Wes Hoolahan, Stephen Ward, Daryl Murphy, Kevin Doyle, Shane Long and many, many League of Ireland legends. But at the same time, I feel honoured to have shared the battlefield with them and some unbelievably talented players.”
Among the many Limerick FC flags that decorate various grounds up and down the country every season, flies a ‘Purcell is Superman’ cover. While his lack of pace ensured he’d never quite fly around the world at those speeds, it’s a testament to the hero-like status he enjoys in a city that embraced him as the embodiment of their football club’s progression.
“It’s an unusual feeling. It’s lovely to hear that I was one of their favourite players. I gave ten years of my life to the club through the hardest of times. There’s so many good times there – they outweighed the bad times. To hear that kind of stuff is overwhelming”, he finished, with a smile.
