‘I couldn’t see any other result and we have the hunger to build on it now’
LIMERICK manager John Kiely walks out of his team’s dressing room at the Gaelic Grounds, the ‘Can’t Hold Us’ single from American rapper Macklemore blaring behind him. The lyrics and upbeat tempo seem to fit snugly with this historic first win for Kiely’s men in the radical new Munster round-robin Championship. Limerick showed the capacity to ‘fight til it’s over’ while Tipperary tamely capitulated under pressure in the second half, just as they did to Kilkenny in the Allianz Hurling League final. As Kiely stopped to speak with the media, the songs in the background moved from ‘Sean South’ to local favourites The Cranberries on a day when Limerick seemed to move to their own beat, full of energy and conviction and desire. Asked if there was any sense of the round robin element diluting matters, Kiely answered: ‘It was all on the line. We were just stronger on the day. ‘We were physically stronger. Fifteen minutes into the second half, I really couldn’t see any other result really. ‘From my perspective, I thought we were getting dominant in all the key areas, particularly at the back,’ he added. He’s not over-egging it here; that’s exactly how it looked from the press box, as a raw-looking Tipperary selection appeared to be exposed. Kiely pointed to the influx of young blood from the victorious AllIreland Under 21 teams who won two of the last three titles, and the impact they have made — players like Diarmuid Byrnes and Cian Lynch and Kyle Hayes and Aaron Gillane. ‘They’ve done well. They’ve adjusted well to it. They just want to play. They’re not carrying any baggage either which is half the battle,’ he said. ‘Sometimes you could have seven or eight seasons under your belt, seven or eight seasons of baggage. ‘These boys are coming into it fresh and free. They know exactly what we want from them. When you’re clear in what is expected, it’s very easy deliver it.’ Not that Kiely was about to lose the run of himself so early in the summer. Limerick have the benefit of a bye next weekend before travelling to face Cork away. ‘Three more games to go in this round robin series so it’s heads down and get ready for training on Tuesday night. ‘It’s all about recovery now for the next 48 hours. It’s great to win but it’s only game one of four. There’s no getting carried away.’ The result here though really sent out a message that this young team is capable of going places after securing promotion from Division 1B. ‘It’s significant for a number of factors,’ agreed Kiely. ‘We haven’t won a Championship match in a couple of years and we needed to win. This is our first Championship win with this group. ‘That’s a significant milestone in itself. The challenge is there now to build on that. The hunger is definitely there within this group. We have three games left in the round robin — let’s go and see what we can do. ‘We were very composed and calm all week. There was no panic. We only played the one challenge game over the past three weeks — we had our own in-house games. ‘I knew the thing was shaping up well. The lads going back to the clubs for the two weeks was key. ‘We took a break from each other. It gave them a chance to switch off. And in this type of competition you need time to switch off, get away from the group, get away from us and come back in fresh and they have done that. There’s a great sense of calmness and focus there for the last few weeks and it was reflected in our performance there in the last quarter of an hour.’ Team captain Declan Hannon admitted that the victory was huge for the team’s confidence. ‘It is big. The last couple of years have been very, very disappointing for us and very disheartening when you’re training... it wasn’t for the lack of effort that we just weren’t getting the results but it was demoralising. ‘So this year we said that, if we can give performances, we will be there or thereabouts and we will continue to do that.’