John Kiely still enjoys every moment of the management beat

4 July 2021; Limerick manager John Kiely and Limerick county board secretary Mike O'Riordan in attendance at the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Semi-Final match between Tipperary and Clare at LIT Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile

The grind of intercounty management can be unrelenting, particularly for counties in the hunt for the big prizes.

The focus is intense, the challenges never-ending, the problems infinite in their variety.

Just ask Limerick boss John Kiely.

“To be honest, I enjoy every day I’m with these lads. Whether it’s training, or popping into the gym or match day — we enjoy what we do, we work hard to enjoy it.

“It can be difficult at times if there’s a phase in the game where you’re struggling to get on the ball, or the opposition is hurting you at a particular time, but I’ve always enjoyed — and I know everyone involved enjoys — working with these guys.

“They're a special group. The atmosphere is fantastic around them — we share our highs, we share our lows, whether it’s winning or losing, and there’s a great bond between everyone.

“It’s a very enjoyable place to be around, a very enjoyable place to work.” 

This Sunday Limerick face Tipperary in the Munster final (Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 4:15pm). The forecast is for heat — “championship stuff,” as Kiely puts it.

“It’s an awful pity we haven’t got 46,000 marching down the banks of the Lee to Páirc Uí Chaoimh — what a phenomenal sight that would be, what an atmosphere there’d be in such circumstances.

“I’m sure those that do get to go, with the magic ticket, will make themselves loud and create a very special atmosphere.

“For those attending the matches this year, they’re probably living out historical occasions as the ones fortunate enough to be in Thurles or Páirc Uí Chaoimh, or wherever it happens to be later in the year. They’re very fortunate so I’m sure they’ll reciprocate that with the support.

“The weather is going to be warmer, but having said that the players are used to temperatures being in the high teens, low twenties, in recent weeks, and when they’re out training for 70, 80 minutes then they’re heated up as much as they would be on another occasion.

“Hydration may be a bit of a challenge, getting that right beforehand, but I’m sure the lads will embrace the conditions whether it’s a monsoon or a heatwave. If there’s a challenge involved we’ll embrace that challenge, too.” 

The take-away from their semi-final win over Cork? The resilience they showed, he says: “Cork put up a fantastic performance on the night in many respects, they put us under a lot of pressure and we definitely identified a number of areas that weren’t up to scratch on the night — our own use of the ball in terms of our own puck-out, our own shooting in particular.

“Listen, we came home with a very grounded feeling of ‘there’s a lot of work to be done here, lads, we’d better get down to brass tacks and get on with it’.

“We’ve worked really hard for the last ten days and we’ll do another bit tonight (Tuesday) and hopefully put in a better performance next Sunday.” 

And last Sunday? Did he watch England-Italy?

“I did, I’m a Match of the Day fan, I’d watch an hour of soccer every Saturday night and enjoy it for what it is, and enjoy the analysis from (Alan) Shearer and Micah (Richards) and co.

“But it’s nice to switch off from the hurling every now and then, even if it’s only for an hour on a Sunday night when you’ve been gone to training at nine in the morning and not home til three or four in the afternoon.

“Sitting down to watch a match with a beer . . . I enjoyed it, I suppose the early goal brought the Italians out of their shell and they had to go and fight for it in the second half. And they showed class in doing that.” 

The manager in him couldn’t resist casting an eye on Roberto Mancini and Gareth Southgate’s work, though.

“I was watching the interaction in the huddles as they were getting ready for the penalties, the two groups.

“I thought they were complete polar opposites — the Italians seemed to know without it being spelt out who was doing what, whereas the English camp appeared to need to give that detail out and go through it with the lads.

“Every camp is different. Gareth Southgate spent a month getting pats on the back, and in the space of ten seconds he started getting a kicking. That’s no surprise.

“I enjoyed the tournament, it was a good one, there were some good games. Just a pity we weren’t there.”