“We put ourselves in a position to win the game”| John Kiely reflects on Cork defeat

The boss did also highlight that “it’s a four game competition” and that “everything is not lost or won” in just one match.

John Kiely says his Limerick side have to put their hands up, following Saturday evening’s Munster Senior Hurling Championship defeat to Cork in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

A late Patrick Horgan penalty saw an end to the Shannonsiders’ 12-month Championship unbeaten run, the visitors beaten despite turning over an eight point deficit to lead by as many as four at one stage.

Speaking after the game, Kiely admitted his team “”were poor in the first half,” but felt that they put themselves “in a position to win” and that they “should’ve closed out the game.”

“We were poor in the first half, we have to put our hands up and say that Cork were by far the better team in the first half. We struggled on breaking ball, we struggled on puck outs. We didn’t give ourselves enough passages of play where we were able to build the play, that was disappointing. Cork created a lot of scoring chances, probably should’ve been a bit more up at half time, being eight down at half time gave us a chance. We started the second half extremely well, got a good platform together, solid off their puck out, got a good press on them, created some turnovers, got good scores. We were efficient in our shooting, accurate in our shooting. We took control of the game and we found the energy. We lost Sean, we lost Declan, these were all setbacks, we put ourselves in a position to win the game four points up. We should’ve closed out the game and we didn’t, that’s on us.”

Limerick have been far from themselves so far this Munster campaign, finding themselves adrift of both Clare and Cork in games this year, although they rallied back to beat the Banner.

Kiely stressed that his side are putting too much pressure on themselves, and that they must perform for the entire game, not in patches.

The boss did also highlight that “it’s a four game competition” and that “everything is not lost or won” in just one match.

“You can’t do this every day can you? You can play to a handicap all you want, but you’re putting too much pressure on yourself. The game is 75/80 minutes long, not 35 minutes long. The first half was very, very disappointing. We have two weeks to regroup, two weeks to fill ourselves up with energy, and come back to the table in two weeks time. Glad to be going back to the Gaelic Grounds to have that opportunity. I think we have to look at this in perspective, because it’s a four game competition, everything is not lost or won here tonight.”

Limerick conclude their Munster Senior Hurling Championship with a meeting against Waterford at the TUS Gaelic Grounds on May 26th.

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