LISTEN: John Kiely “We’ll regroup, we’ll get over it and we will drive on again.”

John Kiely faced the media after his side’s disappointing showing against Clare with a steely determination that the panel will learn from it and will still have a role to play in the 2018 All Ireland Championship.

It was a disappointing showing from Limerick who suffered their first defeat inside 70 minutes this year. Despite being in touching distance for the majority of the first half, Kiely felt that Limerick failed to ignite and were lacking a spark.

“We needed something, we needed somebody to bring that bit of energy to it, that bit of a spark. Try as they might, we just couldn’t find that.  That’s just the way it is and there is nothing we can do about it. I am sure the boys did everything they could in order to find that gap. We did lay siege to their goal for a couple of minutes there at the end but ultimately it was a step too far.

“We’ll regroup, we’ll get over it, we have to week to take a bit of rest. We’ll come back and we will drive on again.”

Munster GAA Senior Hurling Championship Round 5, Cusack Park, Ennis, Co. Clare 17/6/2018
Clare vs Limerick. Clare’s Colm Galvin and Cian Lynch of Limerick. Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

One shouldn’t forget the age profile of this young panel or the progress made over the last year. Promotion from 1B, progression out of Munster, the prospect of an All Ireland 1/4 final. Kiely knows the importance of learning from defeats and this will be no different.

“We will analyse the life out of this game with a view to getting any learnings out of it, the same as we would have any of the other games. It’s an experience for the lads as well, this is our first defeat inside 70 minutes this year and I think that in itself will be a massive learning for the lads. The don’t like that feeling and I’m sure they will do everything they can the next day to make sure they don’t taste it again.”

The round robin Munster Championship has produced some superb matches in its first year and having gone from outsiders to favourites and back to outsiders again, Kiely feels it has been a success and would have gladly taken progression from the group at the beginning of the campaign.

“Our round robin series has been hugely successful for us from the point of view that we have won two matches, we drew a match and we’ve lost a match.  We’ve come out of Munster and if you’d offered me that at the start of the year, I’d have taken your hand off.”

Listen to the interview in full the link below.