Kiely to get deserved reward after perfect climax to Treaty’s success story
IT’S the greatest feeling there is, and after a lifetime of service to Limerick GAA John Kiely will finally get to experience it today. Returning home to your native county with the Liam MacCarthy Cup in hand is when it will all finally sink in for the Limerick manager. On the pitch, when that final whistle blows, it’s all relief and exultation, but that first trip back to his home village and county is when the weight of this achievement will hit.
You see young people with their overjoyed faces, old people who might not have got to the game – tears in their eyes and pouring out holy water. There’ll be plenty of that for Kiely and his troops today, and I can see an unreal welcome home for them.
Of course, no All Ireland is won without a huge collective effort, but if you single out one architect of this win, then it has to be Kiely.
He’s a very astute man, a secondary school principal who brings all that ability for methodical planning to his beloved sport. From the throw-in yesterday he had Limerick setting the tempo on the defending champions.
Limerick’s playing style has been refined and improved throughout the year, but it hasn’t changed much. Kiely, Paul Kinnerk and Joe O’Connor set out their stall early and set up a style that suited Limerick: working the ball through the lines with lots of short passes. Yesterday it was very noticeable again and they did exactly what you thought they would by putting Mike Casey on Johnny Glynn.
The Galway backs were always on different forwards because Limerick were always moving into space and leaving gaps behind, something they exploited by getting great ball into the forwards all afternoon.
Just when it looked as if Galway were getting to grips in that first-half, Graeme Mulcahy got a goal that gave Limerick breathing space. That was huge. So many had wondered whether Limerick’s players might crumble on the big occasion, but if anything they were the ones looking more comfortable.
Galway, meanwhile, looked a bit dead. With the benefit of hindsight, you look back now and can see they were just getting there in a lot of matches, so maybe shouldn’t have been considered such strong favourites.
But they died with their boots on. When their backs were to the wall, they fought and showed why they were champions.
But Limerick were just that little bit hungrier, that bit slicker. At the start of the second-half Kyle Hayes went to town on Gearóid McInerney, who maybe wasn’t 100pc fit as he had no answer to the pace of Hayes.
As the game went on, Limerick’s wing-forwards only grew in confidence. They’re all very comfortable on the ball and natural athletes. Gearóid Hegarty and Tom Morrissey worked incredibly hard to win ball outside, while Aaron Gillane, Séamus Flanagan and Graeme Mulcahy – who has been a revelation this year – were exceptional inside.
Their backs also came good on the right day, and Limerick needed everyone because when they came near the finishing line, they started to stumble. A lot of the Limerick crowd got tetchy, thinking it was going to be the ’94 All-Ireland and that late-game collapse to Offaly all over again.
But Kiely has forged a fierce mentality in this Limerick side. He kept them grounded all year and there was very little coming out of their camp. Having led their U-21s to an All-Ireland in 2015, he knows the majority very well, and likewise they know him.
Every manager has to create a good set-up – get the right people around him – and that’s exactly what he has done.
They’ve been playing to the same template all year and the game against Clare was the only day they were caught out. It broke down then, but there were circumstances to explain it, with Sean Finn going off injured and their supply line from the back upset. Having beaten Limerick by 11 points that day, Clare will be wondering where they stand, but that’s hurling: it’s all about producing it when it counts.
Yesterday, that was what Limerick did, and looking at the depth of their panel there’s no need for Treaty folk to fear a 45-year wait for the next title.
Just look at the boys who came on: Peter Casey, Shane Dowling, William O’Donoghue, Tom Condon; they’re all good hurlers, and beyond that they have a lot of great stuff so they should go from strength to strength.
The key now is to build on this, and when the hangovers have lifted and the celebrations have eventually died down, that’s the psyche you want. They’re good enough to win many more.
Galway will be back, that’s for sure. Beyond what we saw from them in the senior game, their minors proved the talent pipeline is still flowing, and for that manager Jeff Lynskey deserves huge credit, having taken them to their third title in four years.
Yet another incredible achievement to cap a summer of magic, majestic hurling – the best the sport has ever seen.