NAME: Mike Reale DATE OF BIRTH: 26/6/66 HEIGHT: 6ft WEIGHT: 13st 4lbs CLUB: Bruff COUNTY: Limerick HONOURS: Club: Minor football and hurling; Junior Football Championship; 2 South Senior Hurling Championships; Intermediate Hurling Championship. County: All-Ireland Under 21 Hurling; 2 Munster Under 21 Hurling; Railway Cup medal INTER-COUNTY DEBUT: 1988 Championship v Tipperary in Pairc Ui Chaoimh PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: De Beers in Shannon TOUGHEST OPPONENT: All are tough at both club and inter county level FAVOURITE GROUNDS: Gaelic Grounds, Limerick FAVOURITE POSITION: Centre field SPORTING AMBITION: To beat Tipp in the league decider and to win an All-Ireland SHC medal BOYHOOD HERO: Leonard Enright FAVOURITE PLAYER: Cork's Jim Cashman BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON CAREER: Team manager Phil Bennis WAYS OF IMPROVING THE GAME: Plenty of practice/training and work at the skills of the game BEST GAME SEEN: 1984 Munster Hurling Final - Cork v Tipp TIPP FOR THE FUTURE: John Anthony Moran and John Barrett. Both are Bruff clubmen and were part of Limerick's minor team this year LAST WEEK'S WIN OVER CORK MUST HAVE MEANT A LOT TO THE LIMERICK HURLING COMMUNITY: Great result for the county. It created a big buzz not only because we are in the league final, but it was so long ago since we beat Cork. So many people stayed around after the game which was also nice to see THE FACT THAT THE TIPP GAME IS IN LIMERICK MUST BE WORTH A COUPLE OF POINTS TO YOU: Definitely worth a few scores. Because we are used to playing there we will feel more confident WHY DID IT TAKE LIMERICK SO LONG TO GET BACK INTO THE BIG TIME? I think it was just a matter of time before we got back into the big time. Attitude and men in charge have a lot to do with it MANAGER PHIL BENNIS HAS TRANSFORMED THE LIMERICK SIDE. WHAT IS HE LIKE? Someone that everyone looks up to and respects. A good few of the present panel came up from the minor ranks with Phil. So you could say we are used to winning under him IS IT TRUE THAT HE GIVES YOU THE ENTIRE WEEK OFF PRIOR TO A BIG GAME? We do very little before a big game - just a light run and a puck around WERE YOU SURPRISED HOW EASILY CORK THREW IN THE TOWEL IN THE SEMI-FINAL? We went into the game on a low key but quietly confident. We knew we had the players to beat them. Our manager put us under no pressure. We played against the wind in the first half, got on top and never let them settle throughout the game TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR CLUB BRUFF: We play in the South Limerick Championship. We won the intermediate in 1990 and are senior since. We won the South SHC in '91. In the present county league we have played 4, won 2 and lost 2. Anthony Riordan is also on the county senior panel. He got married last Friday before the Cork game and missed it. Past Limerick great Matt Rae still plays with us. We field underage teams at all levels. Mike Madden is over our senior team while manager Tom Bulfin and Sean Garvey do great things for our underage sides. Tom is also a county senior selector WILL THE VERY SIGHT OF THE BLUE AND GOLD FRIGHTEN THIS RELATIVELY INEXPERIENCED LIMERICK SIDE ON SUNDAY? No. We might be young but we still have experience. With an average age of 24 we are bound to come good sometime and there is no time like the present. We will feel confident against Tipp TIPP HAVE GOT THE BETTER OF LIMERICK IN RECENT MUNSTER CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES. CAN LIMERICK REVERSE THE TREND AND WIN ON SUNDAY? Yes, home advantage and the new buzz around the county will be a big lift to us Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 8th May 1992 Vol 2 No 54 Tweet

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