‘Limerick didn’t take Dublin for granted’, insists John Kiely

Complacency wasn't a factor in Limerick's All-Ireland quarter-final exit, John Kiely insists.

DESERVED RESULT: Dublin manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin shakes hands with Limerick manager John Kiely. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.

Always chasing. That's how it felt on the sideline on Saturday afternoon for Limerick manager John Kiely.

The pre-match All-Ireland favourites did lead for much of the first 25 minutes, and for a brief period between the 51st and 53rd minutes when they were 0-19 to 0-18 up, but they were, surprisingly, the hunters for the most part when they'd spent the guts of a decade being the hunted.

"It was very like the Munster final, we struggled to get in front and apply the pressure on the opposition," said Kiely. "That was the key piece, we were always the team that was under pressure, chasing the game."

And yet it wasn't as if Limerick flopped or underperformed. They were flatter than normal for sure, particularly after Chris Crummey's 15th-minute dismissal, but Adam English, Gearóid Hegarty, Cian Lynch and Aidan O'Connor at times, all brought excellence.

"Whatever happened after the sending off, there was most certainly a response from Dublin that we didn't have or give, and once Dublin got their teeth into the contest, they really gave themselves a great chance," continued Kiely.

"I just thought they did really well on breaking ball. The analysis and detail will be done and will show they did really well on second ball, breaking ball in particular. Primary puck-out as well, they do strongly there, and obviously their accuracy, when they got shooting chances they took them."

That's not entirely true. Dublin lamped nine first-half wides and Cian O'Sullivan dropped a couple more point attempts short. And yet they still led by 0-15 to 0-12 at half-time, which only underlines how Limerick weren't quite at it.

Maybe they took Dublin for granted? Not consciously at least, according to Kiely.

"Not at all, we had all our analysis done of Dublin and their performance levels in the Leinster championship were of a very high level, puck-outs, accuracy had been very good, in one game they had a 85 percent shooting accuracy," he said.

"They brought that forward and pulled it all together. They mightn't have done it altogether in a single game in Leinster but they were extremely competitive. They lost two of the main games but only by a couple of points. They got their performance levels right and great credit to them."

There was no great speculation around Kiely's position on Saturday evening. He has another year to run on his deal with the Limerick county board.

He and Paul Kinnerk will spend autumn reflecting on the most punishing loss of their time together with Limerick. Kiely said the goals ultimately won it for Dublin but the post-mortem will be far more comprehensive and will tear apart Limerick's entire buildup and season as a whole.

Kiely is confident he won't look back and wince at how Limerick used the spare man after Crummey's exit.

"We used the extra man in a typical way that any team would, we had three-versus-two in the inside line, 99 percent of teams would do something similar," he said. "We have no qualms about that, that's not a concern for me right now. Ultimately we were just not 100 percent sharp on the ball, we turned over balls we shouldn't have.

"Everything just seemed to be a little bit harder for us when we were on the ball and ultimately when you are a little bit off, it gives the opposition a chance and Dublin, to be fair, they were super."