Trying to match Limerick’s great expectations

Not long after the final whistle had sounded on the 2015 All-Ireland U21 final, victorious Limerick manager John Kiely - the schoolteacher coming out in him - prescribed a fairly strong dose of reality.

“People need to get real,” said the Limerick boss, stressing their 16-point mauling of Wexford was no guarantee of senior success in the coming years.

“There is a long way between an U21 All-Ireland and a senior All-Ireland,” he claimed, “people need to give these guys and the people who will be over them time to manage them, develop them, allow them to get into the gym for three to four years to put on the necessary conditioning you require to take on Kilkenny and Galway.”