At least one man in Limerick will be backing Tribesmen on Saturday

WHILE the majority of Croagh will be supporting Limerick this Saturday, there’s going to be at least one person in the village backing the Tribesmen.

Despite living in Limerick for almost 50 years, Fine Gael councillor Stephen Keary remains a proud Galway man at heart, hailing from the town of Loughrea.

At the council's annual general meeting on Friday, where the newly-elected mayor Cllr Gerald Mitchell said he hoped to be marking Limerick's fourth straight Liam MacCarthy Cup win, Cllr Keary had a stark warning for his party colleague.

“Lads, there's a lot of hurling to be played yet,” he said.

“It will be very tight and I'd be very slow to predict an outcome. I think it'll be a good game. There are two very good teams playing on Saturday evening and it’d be a wise person to call it at this stage,” said Cllr Keary.

A civil engineer by trade, the Adare-Rathkeale council member came to Limerick in 1975 to help build the Moyross estate in the city.

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“I thought I was coming down for three months, and I’m still here 48 years later,” he laughs.

He was elected in 2009 to the old County Council before being re-elected in both 2014 and 2019.

His crowning achievement in local politics came in 2017 when he was elected Mayor of Limerick and witnessed the U21 team win the All-Ireland title within weeks of coming to office.

It was a double-whammy for the mayor, as his home county had just landed a first All-Ireland SHC title this century.

They went all the way back to the final the following year, but of course could not repeat the feat as Limerick's won by a point, ending their own drought.

“I thought Galway could have played better on the day, but I was delighted for Limerick because it was their first win in 45 years. I could not begrudge them - it was well overdue,” he added.

The second year in a row Limerick will meet Galway in the last four, Cllr Keary fears it will be the Treatymen's strength-in-depth which could do for the Tribesmen as was the case last year.

And if Limerick do prevail on Saturday, he will of course support them in the final!