ANOTHER STEP ON the 2022 hurling championship road and another day where Limerick received a ferocious test.
Their last two outings in Munster saw them receive major challenges from Clare, today it was Galway’s turn to compete and it took three late points before Limerick pulled clear to secure victory.
For manager John Kiely the response of his players to such an examination was heartening.
“I’m going to be brutally honest with you, every day we go out the kitchen sink is fired at us, but I know that every day our boys have stood up and withstood everything that was fired at them. We have had to stand up and take whatever has been fired at us all season long and that’s just the way it is and I don’t see it going to change. They showed great resilience, determination, composure, calmness and an ability to see out the game so I’m worried about nothing.
“The character was incredible but listen we know that, we trust our group. There is an incredible unity and togetherness within our group and that’s never, ever been a doubt. The only thing that I would ever hate to do is lose a game without producing that on the pitch, that unity, togetherness and resilience that we pride ourselves on.
“I know these guys everyday they always deliver that. We will hit wides, we will misplace passes, we’ll miss a few chances here and there, we’ll concede scores but ultimately at the end of the day we know if we keep at it we’ll give ourselves a chance.”
Kiely assessed the run of the game.
“It was a tough battle, we got off to a good start – probably too good a start if you like, we were in flow very early, but that flow got disrupted obviously. Galway got back into the game, settled, started getting some fluency going themselves, and it was nip and tuck.
“Maybe tactically we’ll see that Galway did something. We were finding our men with quality ball on the inside line and there was space there. They moved back I think Cathal Mannion on a more permanent basis if I remember on my side of the pitch underneath the Hogan Stand. That closes out space, which makes it more difficult. We were prepared for that, we understood that was going to be a possibility.”
The winning manager praised the impact of the Limerick substitutes.
“All the bench – he (David Reidy) got three points I know but there was an assist there from Cian (Lynch), Peter (Casey) came on, got some vital possessions, Conor Boylan came on, broke a tackle, got a vital possession. Not necessarily scores but making an impact – winning possession, winning a free, giving an assist. Whoever finishes it doesn’t matter, it’s who does the work before that, but they gave us the energy.”
The Limerick boss pointed out aspects of their play he was unhappy with.
“To be honest, I don’t think we worked quite hard enough today. When we look back on it during the week our work rate will be just down a notch or two, and it’s something we’ll be disappointed with. We turned over too many balls in the tackle, and that’s our fault. The tackle is the opposition’s responsibility, but holding onto the ball is ours when we have it, and we coughed up too many balls in the tackle.
“We were up against fantastic opposition, real, top-quality opposition. We have to respect that. That’s why, plain and simple. If that challenge wasn’t there, we wouldn’t be saying that we were disappointed with elements of our game.”
Suggestions that Limerick will have added motivation for the final due to the memories of their 2019 championship loss to Kilkenny, were dismissed by Kiely.
“There’s not any really to be quite honest with you because all we’re worried about the game this day two weeks. The game that you’re referring to was three years ago. We can’t change the past, by God we can influence the future. So yeah we’ll be going after our preparation to make sure that we’re the best team we can be in two weeks time.”
Any thoughts on Kilkenny’s win last night over Clare?
“I didn’t watch it,” said Kiely.
“It was irrelevant to me until we got through today so there was nothing to be gained from watching it. Better off to walk the dog. We’ll watch it tomorrow, definitely, and maybe when I get home tonight. But not yesterday, no.”
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