John Kiely doesn't want jeopardy of Munster championship lost

The Limerick manager is in favour of stretching out season.

Limerick manager JKiely said the Munster Council “need to make it visibly clear to everybody” where the additional revenue from the ticket price increases is going.  Tom Beary/Sportsfile

John Kiely insists the jeopardy of the current format of the All-Ireland senior hurling championship has to be retained.

The Limerick manager sympathised with his Waterford counterpart Peter Queally whose county’s season ended last Sunday and have yet to qualify from the provincial round-robin structure.

However, he disagreed with Queally’s call for the championship to be reviewed along the lines of the All-Ireland SFC format and the idea four teams from Munster and Leinster could qualify for the knock-out stages.

At a press briefing in TUS Gaelic Grounds on Friday ahead of Saturday week’s provincial final against Cork, Kiely supported the feature of two teams in Munster exiting the competition at the provincial stage.

“It is tough, they haven't come out yet so it's going to be tough on them, they've made great progress this year, Peter has done really well. I suppose you just have to keep going back and eventually you'll get the breakthrough. Look at Tipperary last year where they were at the bottom of the group and this year they've turned it around, they've got five points on the board.

“Do I think putting four teams out (into the All-Ireland series) is going to improve it? I don't, I think it will actually diminish the importance of the games. There's great jeopardy there. It is tough but it's a good tough.

“When you love sport, you want to be involved in a competition that has incredible standards, incredible competition and real jeopardy and that's what the Munster Championship has and that's why it's so special and that's why the crowds are turning out, so we have to embrace the jeopardy with the desire to get out.” 

However, Kiely believes the scheduling of the championship is worth debating in the context of the costs associated with going to games and the Munster final tickets going up by €5.

“It's a big commitment to be a supporter in the first place,” said Kiely of following teams. “They're going to league matches, they're going to all the championship matches. There's a lot of those matches in a short period of time. That's the biggest piece, really.

“It's the fact that we're coming off the back of four round-robin games, and now we're into a Munster final, and it's all happened in the space of seven weeks. It's a lot of expense in a short period of time. People are looking towards summer holidays, kids going away on summer camps, all those types of things.

“If the season was more stretched out, the expense is spread out as well with it, and that's maybe something that needs to be taken into consideration, that it's a big hit for families all at the one time.

“I think people haven't been giving out about tickets too much. I think it's more about getting your hands on them what is the biggest problem at the moment. I think we're going to have a fantastic occasion here.” 

Kiely said the Munster Council “need to make it visibly clear to everybody” where the additional revenue from the ticket price increases is going. 

“I think that would be something that would be very much appreciated by the paying public, to know that that money is being put to very good use right across the Association.” 

Kiely reported no fresh injury concerns although he pointed out Limerick have three training sessions before the game. “We've got a session tomorrow (Saturday) morning, session Tuesday night, session Thursday night, so we've a bit of work to get through yet.”