WATCH: John Kiely “We are going to be judged on the results of our competitive games”

John Kiely ready for the Munster Championship after club championship opening rounds.

In less than three weeks, Limerick face Tipperary in the opening game of the revamped 2018 Munster Championship. Spirits are high in the county after Limerick secured promotion to Division 1A for 2019 and reached the League semi final where they were beaten by Tipp after extra time.

Sporting Limerick caught up with John Kiely at the recent Munster Championship launch. The Limerick boss has had to contend with the resumption of the club championship over the past fortnight but is happy to see his players return to their roots.

“It’s a case of gathering the troops again after the club championship last weekend… We’ve three weeks to get ready for Tipperary, the first game in the round robin so that’s where we are at the moment.”

“Its important that lads get back and put in a good shift for their club. They started out with and owe an awful lot to their clubs. It was fantastic to see some hotly contested matches in the club championship.”

“You’re looking for form, to see what lads are doing well and who’s showing a bit of appetite for it. Id go to as many games as I possibly can just to see how lads are doing.”

Limerick last reached a Munster final back in 2014 where they were defeated by Cork. They are without a Munster championship win since 2015 when they overcame Clare in Semple Stadium courtesy of a late point. Yet with a brace of U21 All Irelands won in the past three years, there is genuine hope in Limerick that this team can go far into summer. Kiely is aware of this and says so are his players who arent getting carried away with anything just yet.

“They’re very ambitious but also very realistic. We haven’t won a senior championship match in a couple of years now and they’re ambitious enough to know that’s where they want to be. Winning championship matches and that’s the challenge.”

“We always said we are going to be judged on the results of our competitive games this year.”

Check out the full interview with John Kiely on our YouTube channel.