“Improvement” the key for Kiely as Limerick prepare for Tipp rematch in Final

Last Sunday Limerick succumbed to their second defeat of this year’s Munster Hurling Championship when they were beaten 1-22 to 0-21 by Tipperary in Thurles. However, with results elsewhere in the competition, Limerick qualified for the Munster final due to their superior goal differential after they finished level on points with Clare and Cork.

Limerick will now welcome Tipperary to the Gaelic Grounds on June 30 for the Munster final.

That game will provide Limerick with the chance to rectify the wrongs on Sunday’s game where Limerick looked a little off the boil.

Limerick started brightly with the opening two scores of the game before Tipp would get the next five. This was a result that Tipperary never surrendered as they got to grips with Limerick’s possession-based game quickly.

Limerick were guilty of committing several uncharacteristic efforts which did not go unpunished by a Tipperary forward unit that were well up for the game.

Speaking in the wake of the loss, John Kiely admitted that Tipperary deserved credit for their performance while acknowledging that his side was a little off the pace.

“When the team is sharp and everyone is on the tip of their toes, them balls always go to hand. But let’s give credit to Tipp. They put a lot of pressure on our ball retention back there.

At time our hand passing wasn’t as clean as it needs to be and that’s an area we need to work on over the next two weeks.”

While a win would have guaranteed a rematch in the Munster final, Clare’s victory in Ennis over Cork has given Limerick the opportunity to put this performance to bed.

12 months ago, the sides met in the LIT Gaelic Grounds with Limerick giving their then-most accomplished performance under Kiely as they ran out six-point winners.

On the 30^th Limerick will look for a similar display in what promises to be a sold-out stadium with Limerick in a first ‘home’ Munster final since 2013 when they bridged a 19-year gap since their previous Munster championship success.

For Kiely, the opportunity to play Tipperary is one is very grateful for with the chance at a replay after a lacklustre performance rare.

It will also provide Limerick the chance to play Tipp with equal resting time prior to the game. For the second successive year Limerick lost their fourth Munster championship game after playing three weeks running.

“It’s great to have the opportunity. In sport you don’t often get the chance in two weeks to go back and right the wrongs so its great. We just felt we weren’t on it today, it seems to be the challenge of that third match [in-a-row] in the Minster championship.”

After playing back-to-back against Waterford and Clare, Kiely had a much-altered team for the trip to Thurles with Hurler of the Year Cian Lynch and captain Declan Hannon among those who were resigned to the bench with Kiely outlining the need to change up the team with such competition for places.

 “We wanted to freshen up the team. You can’t go out with the same team three weeks in a row. We needed to freshen it up. We wanted to change things around. There’s fellas pushing hard in training and they need to get their chance. No single player owns a jersey.”

As for the final, the aim is simple for Kiely, improvement in every area if they are to add a Munster Championship to their All-Ireland victory

“We need to bring more to our game. We didn’t bring enough high-quality execution or intensity to our game. We just have to improve every facet in our game for the final.”

Watch the interview in full with Kiely below.