"This is a World Cup Final" – Hickey

Goalkeeping coach Eddie Hickey has called Limerick’s clash with Drogheda United a “World Cup Final”, noting the importance of three points in their SSE Airtricity League Premier Division survival bid.
 

The Shannonsiders had looked dead and buried at the end of last month, but August has seen them turn their season around with three wins and a draw from four games, and Hickey knows they must continue that sort of form.
 

Still at the foot of the table, Limerick are six points behind closest challengers Sligo Rovers and Derry City, with Galway United and Drogheda a point further clear.
 

The Blues still have to face those four teams in their remaining eight games, starting with a trip to Boyneside on Friday night (United Park, 7.45pm), and former stopper Hickey believes the great escape is “very achievable”, once they keep rolling.
 

“People say games are six-pointers. To me, this is a World Cup Final,” Hickey told LimerickFC.ie.
 

“If we win this, we can go on and the sky’s our limit – we can take it as far as we want. If we can pull it back to three points with seven games to play, as I said, the sky is our limit.
 

“I think it’s very achievable, but we’ve got take every game as it comes. I think we can take another ten points from the next 12, and if we do that, we’ll pass them out.
 

“The run has been fantastic. Going back four games, if we were guaranteed to get the ten points we would have taken it. But realistically, we weren’t looking at ten – we were probably looking at a small bit less.
 

“But, in saying that, the lads were disappointed with the draw against Longford. It was like a loss to us inside in the dressing-room, a response which was good to see.”
 

Limerick-born Hickey admits it has been a “huge relief” in recent weeks after enduring such a difficult campaign up until then, and even if their bid fails, he wants to ensure “serious fight” is displayed.
 

“It has been a huge relief,” Eddie said. “Now, there is plenty of light there. We have eight games to go. I think we can go and get another ten from the next 12 points. It has been a relief for all of us – me, Martin (Russell), Derek (McCarthy), Tommy (Barrett).
 

“We’re scoring goals but we’re still conceding. That’s a bit of a worry for us still at the moment, and we’re conceding from set-pieces which we shouldn’t be with the experience that we have there and some of the boys that we’re after bringing into the squad.
 

“It’s absolutely massive that we stay up. If we don’t stay up – I know I’m kind of contradicting myself – we want to go down with a serious fight, which we’re doing at the moment.
 

“I think we have to stay up. We are a lot better than what is in front of us in the league, yet the league doesn’t show that. I know it’s the table that counts at the end of the day.
 

“As a Limerick man, and I know some serious people involved with senior soccer for years, I think it will be detrimental if we go down.”
 

Hickey also praised the influence of recent addition, goalkeeper Freddy Hall. “Freddy’s experience is massive,” he said. “That’s a thing that you can only buy, in terms of goalkeeping – experience. He has that in abundance.
 

“He is still the Bermudan No1 International goalkeeper. He is wanted by other clubs in the country; he’s only playing here a few weeks and I know there are clubs looking for him already. And the boys feel so safe with him behind them.
 

“If he was here from the start, the goalkeeping situation could be different, in terms of Conor (O’Donnell) and that. Conor would have learned more from him, in the work that I do with the boys. I give them the tools – they’ve got to go and use it. Freddy has been a huge factor for us coming in.”
 

Limerick have taken just one point from their two meetings with Drogheda this season. They were denied victory by a late free-kick in United Park in March, before losing their Markets Field opener 2-1 in June.
 

“The first game, how we came out of there with only a point is beyond me, but that was kind of the season as it was back then,” Hickey said. “We just weren’t getting the breaks and we were conceding sloppy goals all-round.
 

“The game in the Markets Field, the same again, how we didn’t get something out of that is beyond me as well. We played the better football, but it goes back to the league table not lying. We are where we are because we’re not scoring enough goals and we’re conceding too much.
 

“But we think we have that rectified and hopefully it’s third time lucky on Friday evening.
 

“The boys had a small bit of a break last week. Team morale is fantastic. Squad spirit is brilliant as well. Everyone is helping each other. Everyone is eager to get on and get the game going.”