Liam Sheedy: Limerick are rightly favourites, but Kiely's men must raise bar again to beat Cats 

Limerick will be looking to get more out of wing-forwards Tom Morrissey and Gearóid Hegarty on Sunday.

SOARING: Tom Morrissey of Limerick grasps the sliotar. ©INPHO/James Crombie

John Kiely's Limerick side are bidding to win their fourth All-Ireland out of five when they take on Brian Cody's Kilkenny side this Sunday. 

Former Tipperary boss Liam Sheedy is backing Limerick to get the job done but says they will need to raise their performance to another level if they are to get over Cody's men. 

Sheedy said he has fancied Limerick from the outset, but that they haven't reached the heights of their potential since the opening match of their championship campaign, against Cork. 

"Look, from the outset, I said that Limerick would win the All-Ireland, their best performance was probably in the first match, but they didn't meet a lot of resistance in Páirc Uí Chaoimh," Sheedy said on the Irish Examiner hurling podcast.

"I don't think they hit their heights in the Munster semi-final or final that you'd expect.

"If you take their average winning margin from last year, it was about 10 points, it's certainly not anything like that this year, so, I think they've come back into the pack a little bit.

"They haven't found their form, to the level you'd expect, but I look at [John] Kiely and I look at Paul [Kinnerk], I look at the whole structure, I just think that they will have them primed for one right performance."

Sheedy said that the playing party will have to play a level above what they have shown thus far this campaign if Declan Hannon is to be lifting the Liam McCarthy Cup come 5.30 pm on Sunday. 

"I think they will need to play a level above what they have played, but from our perspective, I just hope they are let play and we get a cracking game because I think if the two of these teams bring what they have, I think we'll have a rip-roaring game."

"I'd still be saying it's slight advantage Limerick, but on the basis that they play to a level higher than they played to in the semi-final and in the Munster final. They haven't been outperforming [teams] like they were last year where they showed that they were, probably, a good bit ahead of everyone else."

Kilkenny came out of their semi-final against Clare much more comfortably than Limerick did against Henry Shefflin's Galway, but the question of 'were Kilkenny good or were Clare bad?' still casts an unknown over the form of Cody's side coming into the decider.