Limerick hurlers S&C coach to depart champions for rugby role

2 February 2020; Limerick manager John Kiely and strength and conditioning coach Mikey Kiely prior to the Allianz Hurling League Division 1 Group A Round 2 match between Limerick and Galway at LIT Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Photo by Diarmuid Greene/Sportsfile

The strength and conditioning coach behind Limerick's back-to-back All-Ireland hurling triumphs is to leave the champions' setup, the Limerick Leader has reported.

Mikey Kiely is set to take up a role with Ulster Rugby, having already worked with the province in their pre-season, the paper reports.

That will rule the highly regarded Ballybrown man out of Limerick's 2022 campaign. 

The news will come as a blow to Limerick manager John Kiely — Mikey Kiely replaced Joe O'Connor as Limerick S&C coach after the 2019 season, having previously worked with the county's footballers.

After last Sunday's win over Cork, the manager praised Kiely's work in getting the panel right following the Covid lockdown.

"I think we timed our return to training work and timed our push right and that’s down to Mikey Kiely and Paul (Kinnerk) in terms of their setting the markers along the road of where we want to be at any given time — huge kudos to them guys because they got us right on the day that mattered most."

Speaking on this week's Irish Examiner GAA podcast, former Limerick manager TJ Ryan hoped the county would be able to keep their accomplished backroom team together for the foreseeable future.

"If you were head of operations in Limerick the first thing you'd be doing is cementing them all for the future.  There seems to be a great camaraderie amongst them. I'm sure they'll be doing everything in their power to keep them together."