John Kiely: Munster final between Limerick and Cork will be a 'proper game of hurling'
Both Limerick and Cork had big wins in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship on Sunday to set up a blockbuster final
JOHN Kiely is looking forward to a “proper game of hurling” on Sunday week when Limerick travel to SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh to take on Cork in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship final.
The manager was speaking in the wake of a resounding 17-point win over Tipperary as the All-Ireland champions’ poor title defence ending in emphatic style at the TUS Gaelic Grounds.
At the same time, by the banks of the Lee, the Rebels were 16-point winners over Clare as both finalists are in perilous form heading into a repeat of last year’s final.
“These encounters are huge, huge challenges and I have no doubt this will be another huge challenge for the group but one that we will embrace,” said Kiely outside the victorious dressing room on Sunday.
“Going to Cork, we haven’t won there in a couple of years so it’s a piece for us to go after. That challenge is something we will embrace in the next two weeks.
“It’s the makings of a proper game of hurling and where every player should want to be is in a Munster final - where it matters most.
“We’ll try to put our best foot forward and improve on our performance levels on recent weeks, they have reasonable-to-good but we want more, we just want more from the group as a whole sustained throughout the game and that’s gonna need fellas to dig deep - and I know they will.”
Despite the huge margin of victory, the performance - as Kiely noted - was not flawless; the manager describing it as “mixed”.
Limerick hit 16 wides and Tipp had 0-8 scored from frees in the first half while the game was closer.
Elements to improve on ahead of the trip to Cork.
“Obviously, very pleased with the result and the fact it puts us in a Munster final again,” Kiely reflected. “Patches of the performance were at the level we would expect but there were some areas from maybe the 12th or 14 minute of the first half we just dropped our intensity, dropped our urgency and we seemed to find everything a bit hard to do at that stage.
“To be fair to the lads, we responded to half time really well and I think everyone was disappointed with elements of our first half but the response in the second half was very good.
“Our accuracy was off - just a dial off - and that’s it and that’s not good enough. It’s not something that we’re going to find pretty viewing on Wednesday night.”
That said, the manager insists the players will take responsibility for any improvements that are needed.
“The boys will own it, they’ll know themselves that that’s just not good enough and I don’t believe all the shots we missed were down to pressure - it was just poor execution.”