Ian O'Riordan talks to Muiris Gavin about Limerick's more positive approach to the qualifiers this season and the task they face against Derry

What a difference a week makes. For the past two years the Limerick footballers have had to live with the dreaded six-day syndrome, which effectively turned their All-Ireland qualifier into a psychological test more than a physical one.

In 2003, they battled past Cork and Clare before falling to Kerry in the Munster final. Six days later they were sent out in the qualifiers, and lost to Armagh by 11 points.

Last year, they forced Kerry to a replay in the Munster final, and their reward for that was another qualifier just six days later, this time losing out to Derry.

Defeat to Kerry in this year's Munster semi-final was initially hard to stomach. Another chance to end their now 109-year wait for a Munster title had gone, but at least they had an extra week's recovery before entering the qualifiers. Centre forward and captain Muiris Gavin has no doubt that extra week made the difference when it came to their qualifier match with Carlow. Limerick won by 15 points.

"We honestly felt we've never been given a chance in the qualifiers," says Gavin. "For the last two years we've had to go out six days after losing a provincial final. Last year, we had three games in 13 days.

"So we said this year we'd be true to our word, and would be a different team if we were just given a chance in the qualifiers. A lot of people have been saying this is the last hurrah for this Limerick team. So after losing again to Kerry again we decided we'd give it a right crack in the qualifiers, and try to make the quarter-finals."

Gavin believes the qualifiers are worthless unless teams are given a fair chance to do themselves justice: "I think with the six days thing there's nearly no point in having a draw at all. People were saying that we never took the qualifiers seriously, but you just don't get a chance to do that with six days.

"And that was annoying us a little bit. It's impossible to do it. No one has come through that way, and there's a reason for that. You just can't get to the level of intensity required to win a championship match six days after losing one.

"But I also think the Kerry game actually brought us on an awful lot. It was the first game of the year for maybe half the team because of the injury problems we had. We did go in there a little cold. We were very disappointed to lose, but we all felt it brought us on a good bit."

The win over Carlow was followed by the news that they must face Derry in round three. Gavin accepts that Sunday's trip to Castlebar for a rematch with the Ulster side is daunting, but again things are different thanks to the extra week.

"Our first reaction was that we'd be going back to Hyde Park. We'd gone out of the championship for the past three years there, and it has been a graveyard for us. At least it's been fixed for somewhere different. But I think both of us feel there were probably easier draws out there. At the same time we know that whoever wins will get a great kick-start to their season. If we manage to pull it off we'll fear no one from here on in.

"Derry do present a very tough challenge, but it's not just the Ulster thing. Derry are a very good football team in their own right, and have improved again from last year . . . if we can beat Derry it will be a big scalp for us."

There is, admits Gavin, an added incentive to win on Sunday. Team manager Liam Kearns has said he'll step down at the end of the summer come what may.

"Of course that's a motivating factor for all of us. We've been together six years now. We didn't achieve what we set out to do, which was to win a Munster title, but I think we've raised the standard of football in Limerick. We don't want to go out not performing to our best, and I think through no fault of our own that has happened for the past two years."

As expected, Kearns has named an unchanged team. Jason Stokes has recovered from injury but will again start among the substitutes.

LIMERICK (SF v Derry): S O'Donnell; T Stack, C Mullane, J McCarthy, P Browne, S Lucey, S Lavin; J Quane, J Galvin; S Kelly, M Gavin, S Buckley, C Fitzgerald, M Reidy, M Crowley.