John Kiely: We have probably one of our greatest challenges ahead of us

Wexford saw off Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday night.

OFF FORM: Limerick manager John Kiely during the game. Pic: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

Limerick manager John Kiely was left frustrated by a flat performance in their final league tie as they went down by seven points against Wexford in front of a 4,800 crowd in the Gaelic Grounds.

The visitors were full value for their 1-19 to 1-12 triumph, albeit there was little to play for with Wexford’s relegation already guaranteed prior to Saturday.

“It was a very poor performance really,” said Kiely.

“We just lacked energy, flat, lacked intensity. We had a lot of unforced errors. We lacked flow. We lacked patterns to what we were doing. To be fair to Wexford, they brought the intensity. They were full of energy. Full of life. They should have won by a lot, lot more.” 

David Reidy was a late withdrawal due to illness while Declan Hannon did not feature after suffering a ‘sore leg’ last Thursday. Mike Casey came off with a dead leg. Kyle Hayes is still out with a hamstring issue.

The league is now over for the Munster champions as they look ahead to their Munster championship opener against Tipperary.

“You don’t get any break to get your head above water and have a look at the work that needs to be done. We have that now, we have a month to get ready for the 20th April. We are going to need every minute of it. We have probably one of our greatest challenges ahead of us because clearly, a performance of that nature tonight is not going to put you in a place where you are going to be competitive in a championship match, let alone successful. Listen we have a huge body of work to get done. We have a massive challenge ahead of us.” 

Meanwhile, Wexford’s Keith Rossiter was content to finish on a high. They hit over 20 wides in the game while Chin had a particularly poor day on the frees, missing four. Mark Fanning and Jack Redmond also missed placed balls.

“The league is for learning and making mistakes, we made plenty of them tonight,” said Rossiter.

“But we kept at it. We got a goal chance off one of them as well. Look we four weeks to get them right now, get the frees right. Plenty of time.” The new league structure means Wexford and Clare will both drop to Division 1B with Waterford and Offaly coming up. When asked for his thoughts on the format, Rossiter argued for more space and the return of pre-season competitions.

“Look, it is hard to comment on that. I think 1B is still very competitive, you will still get good games in it so I’m not too worried about that element of things. I suppose starting it so early in the year and getting rid of your pre-season competitions, the likes of the Walsh Cup, I wouldn’t be happy with that.

“That was a great way to blood lads in and get them ready for the league. Instead you are firing them in against Cork down in Wexford Park in January. I think that is a bit ridiculous. I think they are cramming the year too much to be honest.

“It is the same for everyone, I don’t know what other managers or county boards think, but my opinion is that it is being crammed. Another week in the middle of it and put back in the pre-season competitions would give lads a chance to blood themselves in.”