'It takes too much energy': John Kiely explains why he no longer watches opposition teams live

John Kiely poses for a portrait during a Limerick media conference at Woodlands House Hotel in Adare. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.

Limerick manager John Kiely has revealed he no longer has the energy to go and see opposition teams live.

After Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final win over Clare, Kiely admitted he walked his dogs instead of watching on TV Galway’s victory over Cork the day before.

Last month, he, his management team and players took in the Kerry-Armagh All-Ireland SFC game in Fitzgerald Stadium, the same day Clare beat Dublin in their quarter-final. Limerick were in Killarney for a weekend training camp.

Explaining his decisions at the county’s All-Ireland final press event in the Fitzgerald Woodlands House Hotel in Adare, Kiely said: “Look, you get involved emotionally in the game. I'm not able to not do it. I'm not somebody that goes to a game cold, stone, isolated from the outcome of it.

“And so I find it takes too much energy out of me, and it takes my eye off of things and my mind goes to places that I'm preoccupied, getting in the car, coming home. I'm preoccupied when I go to bed, you know, and I haven't got time to deal with it. So you go to that game, the next thing is, has time gone out of your week because of it.”

Kiely would have been a regular at games involving future opponents but chooses now to defer that responsibility onto his analysis team.

“We have people that will look at that match for me or will go to that match for me and they can tell me what they saw. I don't need to be there. So, look, it's about conserving your energy, really, and your headspace to do what you have to do.”

He laughed: “I don't have the energy anymore. I have to mind my energy. It's hard, just, and it takes hours to go there. And, like you might be only after finished training and been on the road since 9 o'clock that morning and then you have to scoot away then to somewhere, to be in another place for four hours. And, like, what are you going to be like the day after? You're exhausted.”

Meanwhile, Limerick captain Cian Lynch reports he is fit and ready for Sunday week’s All-Ireland SHC against Galway after showing no ill effect of a foot sprain at the weekend.

“Grand. All good now, to be honest. Last week leading into the game, I was just trying to get it right and thank God it was so we'll just drive on again.

“At this time of the year, there's not much time between the games and niggles can kind of linger. I had the niggle and I'm just grateful to our strength and conditioning and our physios. You trust in them that you'll be able to have a part to play in the game."

On Lynch, Kiely said: “Ciano is flying it. He's perfect. The fact that he got through Sunday was very reassuring. No, we're all good. Look, he had a sprain and the window was tight. It's so competitive at the moment within the group, you're trying to balance the starting and the finishing. What does the start look like? What does the finish look like? And we gave him the job to finish it.

“He did very well. I'm delighted with the impact. The other four guys who came on with him, the impact was again very solid. Look, he's the captain and he has to lead by example. For the captain to take that role on is great."

Otherwise, Kiely believes he has a clean bill of health as Limerick return to training on Wednesday evening. “A couple of lumps and bumps is about the size of it, really. Nothing to be concerned about.

“I'd be hopeful, all going well for the couple of sessions we have (Wednesday) night, Saturday and Tuesday, that we'll come through clean, fingers crossed. But as we're heading into it, we're in a good place."