IT WAS A REAL TREAT
JOHN Kiely spoke before Limerick’s historic All-ireland breakthrough of the poison pen letters he had received. It was a different story after it.
Revealing some of the nasty stuff he had been sent, Kiely started a conversation involving managers that exposed the dark side of being the one in the hot-seat.
But equally the Treaty County’s first time lifting the Liam Maccarthy Cup opened the Limerick manager’s eyes to the humanity behind his side’s march to glory.
“I got some lovely stuff, yeah, there’s no too ways about it,” he smiled. “One box (of letters) is definitely bigger than the other now!
“Listen, there was probably a lot made of it at the time.
“But people have been fantastic, really. People from all over the world – Australia, America, Canada, England, Northern Ireland. We got letters of thanks and appreciation from all over the globe.
“People telling their own story, people in America without green cards who couldn’t come home, they were heartbroken that they couldn’t be there.
“We met some of those people when we were in Boston, Chicago and
New York on our trip and took great satisfaction that we could bring the cup over because they’re almost in exile, if you like.
They can’t come home.
“It meant a huge, huge amount to them. It was a great privilege and pleasure for us to make up for the fact that they couldn’t be at the game.”
Kiely confided that some of the stuff he read made him stop in his tracks.
“They’d make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, reading it,” admitted the schoolteacher.
“Some very, very difficult stories that people had to tell of loss, missing out on their own parents’ funerals and things like that. Real loss.”
“And, some interesting ones. A lady in Fermoy was cleaning out her at home at 92 years of age with her son and they came across two lovely pictures of Mick Mackey and John Mackey from 1945, taken on the pitch in Fermoy during a game against Cork.
“And they sent them on anonymously to me. I don’t know who they are.
“Maybe they might make contact with their names because I’ve passed on those photographs to the two Morrisseys now – to Dan and Tom, to the proper resting place for those photos right now.”
The Morrisseys play their club hurling for Ahane, which was home to the Mackeys.
“So two brothers, back with two brothers maybe,” Kiely added. “Yeah, some lovely stuff and I’m very appreciative of all the things that came my way.” Given the social media exposure Gaoth Dobhair gave themselves after winning the Ulster football club title last weekend, Kiely joked that their antics put the Limerick celebrations in the “tuppence ha’penny place.”
Limerick will get back down to work next weekend – the start of the Co-op Superstore Munster Hurling League facilitates their December 27 team holiday to Mexico.
Kiely said: “Donal O’grady is involved with the underage academy and I think they have 170 trying out for one age group and 150 for another.
“So there’s a spin-off already in terms of youngsters looking to further themselves and challenge themselves to higher standards.
“There’s been lots of positive spin-offs. Long may it last.”
Asked if his Limerick would tackle the hugely difficult task of going back to back in the championship, Kiely responded: “Last year we were looking to know how we could close a gap of 45 years – you’re talking about closing a gap of nine months.
“I’ve no doubt it’s going to be very difficult and a huge challenge. But we’ve risen to any challenge that has been put in front of us in the last couple of years.”
to the rules could give every Formula One team a chance to pull off a surprise next season, according to Toto Wolff.
Mercedes boss Wolff believes next year could see a repeat of Jenson Button’s shock triumph in 2009.
Brawn, the team that was Honda and is now Mercedes, stunned F1 when they produced a winning car only months after being threatened with closure.
And Wolff warned: “It is almost like 2009 where Brawn identified the double diffuser.
“There could be teams that have found loopholes, that others didn’t spot, that could make the difference. So we are taking everybody seriously. All of them could come with a car that can outperform us.”