Since his emergence in 1996, Mark Foley has been a beacon of excellence in the good and bad times. Seán Moran talks to Limerick's captain On the Easter management crisis.

It hardly seems like a year since the 2001 Guinness Munster championship burst into life with the re-emergence of Limerick as a siginificant force. That resurgence reached its zenith in the provincial final against Tipperary. Narrow defeat in a match that could have been won seemed to divert the season into a less-exalted plateau where a quarter-final ambush by Wexford qualified the season's achievements just a little.

Mark Foley captains Limerick in Páirc Uí Chaoimh tomorrow as the county re-engages with Tipperary, this time in the Munster semi-final. Time flies and it's been an eventful year to date, but to Foley the landscape looks pretty familiar.

"It hasn't changed a whole lot. It's the same background except Tipp are All-Ireland champions. That's the only difference and it doesn't really affect us. It makes it harder for them to have the same appetite or hunger, but they seem to have dispelled that against Clare."

Nor have the lessons of last year's match taken that long to absorb.

"We drew level with five minutes to go. We then created chances and missed chances while Tipp got the scores. Analysing it, it wasn't a complete performance. The main thing out of it? We hit 17 wides."

Since he burst into championship hurling as wing back on the team that shattered Cork's long-standing unbeaten home record in 1996, Mark Foley has been a prominent player. Man of the Match that day, Munster medallist, All-Ireland finalist and thereafter Players All Star and Young Hurler of the Year, his career started with a flash. Foley's personal reputation survived the downturn in the county's fortunes and the experimental positioning that was part and parcel of a developing team.

In the past couple of seasons as Limerick have begun to come again, Foley has been to the fore. His ability to read a game and to work his line have been inspirational to the evolving team around him. As dynamically as he can show the way on the field, he offers equally impressive leadership off it.

With the county management almost neurotic about the impact of media coverage on players' equilibrium, the captain is one of those trusted to communicate with the outside world. He can interview and perform a few days later - and more to the point he is trusted to be able to do so.

Players were entitled to wonder at this poor opinion of their ability to handle publicity when only two months ago management themselves served up as rancorous a row as the media could have wished for. Limerick players watched in bemusement and anger as the county board and some selectors chose Easter week to enact their own passion play.

As manager, Eamonn Cregan was allowed step down and no one initially thought it worth their while to persuade him otherwise, the poisonous relations within the management structure became public. These tensions had been apparent to the hurlers for quite some time.

Foley and the players stood by Cregan in a low-key, sensible fashion and, when the show was riveted back together, they got it back on the road with minimum fuss.

"I'm speaking on behalf of the players and saying that it had absolutely no effect on us," according to Foley. "I don't know about the sideline - you'd have to ask them. We've prepared as well as we could have and are very happy going into the match. You start with a management team and hope to finish out the year with the same one. It's not as if we were going badly at the time. There had been friction on match days but we were most worried about how things would go in preparation for the championship.

"That has been sorted out with the redefinition of roles and they are all singing off the same hymn sheet. In fairness to them, they had to put personal feelings behind them and they did. Whatever the resolution, it had to be done quickly because if there'd been a vacuum for another couple of weeks it would have damaged us. But you never really know until the day."

The day has been longer delayed than normal. This year, Limerick go straight in at semi-final stage whereas Tipperary have had a rigorous work-out against Clare.

"It's very new to me," says Foley. "I've never not had a first round, which is a big change, but I'm happy enough with it. We had a few injuries and fellas doing exams up to last weekend. Maybe the extra weeks off did us good given that background. Then again there's no substitute for playing matches."

He identifies one area in which the team would hope to improve. The failure to take chances when on top haunted them in most of the big matches.

"Against Cork in the first half we should have put daylight between them and us. In the Munster final we had a chance to take it and didn't. We would be looking to do a lot better this year."

The victories over Cork and Waterford were achieved despite adversity but the defeats by Tipperary and Wexford were in close finishes and in spite of chances to win - in other words demoralising setbacks, albeit that the strength of the challenge to Tipperary surprised many.

"I think a lot of it is psychological and a lot to do with experience. Limerick hadn't been in that position before. It was a surprise to the public and even the players. I'm happy we'll be able to rectify that. It's down to experience. A lot of great teams have found that.

"We were very disappointed to lose to Wexford. I thought we should have won. They scored only 1-5 from play but caught us for vital scores. It was a game we should have won. We dominated for long stages but didn't put them away. The concession of needless frees in front of goal cost us. Wexford score a lot of goals. Stop them scoring goals and you'll beat them."

Tomorrow is the start of a daunting season for Limerick. If last year's achievements caught people on the hop, this year opponents will be waiting for them, aware of their strengths and having analysed their weaknesses.

It's a delicate balancing act for Cregan and the players, moving between the encouragement of last year and the need to prepare for more knowing opposition.

"We'd still consider ourselves a good way down the pecking order," says Foley. "Some teams in the qualifiers would be ranked ahead of us. After last year our public is much more demanding but we're still no different to Clare, Offaly and Wexford, a bit behind the top teams. We had a great chance last year to do well at this level. I've no problem with the element of surprise being gone, it's just a bigger challenge."

It's six years since Foley's illustrious debut. When he says that 1996 is a long time ago, he means that in hurling terms it represents an age. That was the year Limerick beat Clare, Wexford beat Limerick and the last year before the championship system changed forever. He couldn't be blamed for growing a little wistful as the memory of his only All-Ireland fades into the distance, the vibrancy of his early promise so far unfulfilled.

"That's well in the past. A different era altogether. Obviously it's a regret, but it's well in the past. This is a totally new team and the landscape has changed. There's a decent bit of talent and a few more to come on the scene.

"Hurling is healthy in Limerick and we'll be challenging for the next few years. That's for sure."