Limerick's Jimmy Lee sees green shoots depsite league showing

Jimmy Lee says the Limerick footballers are "inching through" their issues after a winless league campaign.

Too often, the Treaty have left themselves with a mountain to climb having gone in behind at half-time in all seven of their league losses.

Their manager isn't ripping up the script just yet as they head into their Munster Championship opener against Cork. A couple of scoring forwards have returned in Danny Neville, Bryan Nix, and Josh Ryan, who kicked four pointed frees when switched into the goalkeeper’s jersey against Wicklow.

"Losing is never a happy place to be," says Lee, "but there are a few green shoots there. We have a lot of new lads coming through that have been integrated.

"We're starting poorly in games – that's the biggest thing. We're constantly chasing games, which is the problem.

"I suppose we're inching through things to change stuff. But you can't change everything and throw it all out until you see what's actually wrong with it so we're trying to inch it forward in that regard."

Lee says he wasn’t aware of the extent of the player exodus that awaited when he took on the role last August.

Around 10 squad members are gone travelling, while five forwards were injured from the start of the year. A total of 19 players returned from last year’s panel, minus that handful who were out injured.

"Out of that, 16 were actually available to me," adds Lee, "and then one or two more got injured during the campaign.

"But it's no different than any other. You just have to get on with the hand of cards that you're dealt."

Neville’s return can have a wider impact, Lee believes, with the potential to mentor younger players.

"Danny has proven it at inter-county level down through the years. He has that ability.

"It's not just