Emotional Kiely knows Limerick have never gone deeper in the well

"It's probably even a better performance than I'd hoped for, to be honest"

Mon, 25 Jul, 2022 - 06:17

Eoghan Cormican, Croke Park

There was a gargantuan release of emotion by John Kiely at the final whistle.

Well naturally, says you, he had after all just masterminded a fourth All-Ireland final win in five seasons.

But even after he had embraced his backroom personnel and county board officials, the Limerick manager turned towards the Hogan Stand, his arms raised, his fists clinched, and a whole stew of emotions oozing out through his every pore.

Around an hour later, Kiely joined us in the media auditorium and began to shed some light on exactly why he burst like a dam in the minutes after Colm Lyons had brought the curtain down on a breathless decider.

The Limerick manager was in the middle of praising his rearguard for what they absorbed and repelled during a second half where Kilkenny threw the kitchen sink and dishwasher at them when he, intentionally or not, segued off in a different - more illuminating - direction.

“I thought our defence showed a level of resilience that mirrored our season because we have had a really, really tough six months. We have had setback after setback after setback,” said the now four-time All-Ireland winning manager.

“I could list 20 significant events that occurred during the course of the six months that were a challenge to us.”

Without giving us all 20, was he willing to unwrap a handful of those difficult and challenging events?

“Cian Lynch’s injury last weekend. After a ten-week hamstring injury, he gets back and plays in the semi-final for 20 minutes. And on that Sunday morning he was absolutely electric. He was winning ball left, right and centre. He just went to make a tackle and got caught awkwardly.

“That’s a devastating blow for any team to take, but for the group to respond the way they did to his injury, for him, and to play like they did for the following 20 minutes afterwards while he is taken away in the back of a jeep.

“That’s hard, somebody you are that close to has had a devastating injury, you are there to witness it, but you still have to drive on. They drove on at a level that was the highest I have ever seen.

“We suffered two more injuries at training on Friday night. You’d say how could you possibly get injured on a Friday night in training, but two men went down, significant players on the team.

“Kyle was injured with hamstrings I’d say a number of times during the course of the year.

“We couldn’t get form at the start of the year.

“They’ve responded to everything that has happened during the course of the year. And when it came down to it, what was the most telling piece there today was the resilience that they showed when it mattered most. They refused to lose that game and no matter what, they were going to win that ball in defence and bring it out.”

That defiance peaked on the two occasions when Kilkenny got level on 47 and 63 minutes respectively. Within a minute each time, Limerick, through Tom Morrissey and then Morrissey supplying Kyle Hayes, had returned in front.

But in those seconds between Kilkenny levelling and Limerick edging in front once again, Kiely wondered to himself just what had to be done to put any bit of meaningful separation between themselves and Cody’s charges, particularly so after Richie Hogan’s point to tie matters seven minutes from the end.

“You are exacerbated with yourself to a certain extent, 'Christ, what do we have to do to get away from these guys?' We were hurling well, winning puckouts, creating scoring opportunities, and yet they were still there.

“We found the resolve defensively and in attack. For lads coming off the bench to take on the shots that Cathal O'Neill took on, that Conor Boylan took on, that Peter (Casey) took on and kept taking on. Even though we didn't get them all, we took the chances on and committed to them.”

Because of all the above, and a bit more on top of it, yesterday was the most satisfying of their four final wins.

“It absolutely is. Look at the opposition we had to play. We played everybody in Munster. We had an incredible battle with Clare in the Munster final. Galway, a super side that we had huge battles with over the last five or six years as well. An incredible side and obviously then to meet Kilkenny in the final.

“It took that performance and it took it in absolute spades. It's probably even a better performance than I'd hoped for, to be honest with you.”