PRIOR to last season's league clash with Cork at Pairc Uí Chaoimh, Limerick boss Justin McCarthy revealed he was hoping to build for the future and that he was satisfied there was plenty of up-andcoming talent ready to make their mark at the top level sooner rather than later.

At the time Limerick had already played four games in the league, winning narrowly against Clare and Dublin, and finishing on the wrong side of two very close encounters with Kilkenny and Galway. Cork, for their part, had lost their opening three games against Dublin, Tipperary and Galway, which wasn't unexpected since with the entire 2008 panel unavailable they were forced to field a makeshift side for those fixtures.

The players' protracted dispute with the County Board over the decision to reappoint Gerald McCarthy as team manager was resolved after Gerald tendered his resignation before Cork's next outing against Clare. Cork picked up their first brace of league points at the expense of the Banner in Cusack Park, and they collected two more when shading the issue against Limerick, doing much to ease their relegation worries in the process.

In a sense, it was rough justice on Clare and Limerick that they came up against a much stronger Cork team than that which had succumbed to Dublin, Tipp and Galway. But Justin had no complaints on that score, making it clear that he was glad to see the whole thing sorted out in Cork.

Little did he realise then that he would find himself facing a similar player-revolt heading into his second season at the helm in Limerick, and that he would be calling up a raft of newcomers at the same time.

His plight has been triggered off by his decision to axe 12 of the 2009 panel last October, with the vast majority of the other squad members opting out in support of their discarded colleagues.

They are all refusing to play under Justin again, but despite mounting pressure from various quarters, he is determined to remain on. In the wake of Limerick's annihilation by Tipperary in last year's All Ireland semi-final, there is no denying that a clear-out was needed and it seems as if the current problem might have prevented had the players shafted by Justin been formally notified that their services were no longer required.

His survival is obviously in the balance at the moment and his position will become completely untenable if, as seems inevitable, his new-look side struggles in the league. Limerick put up a decent showing against Galway last weekend, but they still finished seven points behind the Tribesmen, who were minus Joe Canning and the rest of the Portumna contingent.

They will face another very testing assignment under lights at the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday night against Cork, and it would have to go down as a major shock should they reverse last season's league result against the Rebels. Cork got their campaign off to a positive start against Offaly last weekend and while they showed obvious signs of ring-rust in the first half, they raised the tempo significantly after the interval to run out comfortable winners by eleven points.

It was enough to suggest that Denis Walsh's charges are in reasonably good shape after the winter recess, and are wellequipped to handle the Limerick neophytes.

Selector Pa Finn accepts that Cork will be going in as strong favourites, but he insists they will be taking nothing for granted against Limerick. "We will be fully focused on the task, and, while Limerick obviously have their problems, it would be foolish to dismiss them, because, for all their inexperience, they are bound to be highly motivated. They will be strongly supported as well, and if there is any complacency on our part, we could be punished."

Finn said he was happy with Cork's performance against Offaly, although he agreed they were a bit sluggish in the first half. "I suppose that was to be expected since it was our first serious game of the year, but once the lads got into their stride in the second half, we took over completely.

"We will probably make a few changes for the Limerick game, and our intention is to give every player on the panel a fair chance to show what he can do over the course of the league. We will be putting out a strong team at the same time, and we will be treating Limerick with the same respect as Kilkenny or any other team in the group. The lads are going well, they are training hard, so hopefully everything works out for us on Saturday night, and we should win if we play to form."

- Noel Horgan