John Kiely eager to maintain high standards

By Cian O'Connell

Perhaps the greatest achievement of the John Kiely era is Limerick remaining relevant.

The 2018 All-Ireland SHC title has been followed by further silverware. Standards have been maintained, Limerick have continued to operate at a seriously high level.

On the eve of another Munster decider against Cork at TUS Gaelic Grounds, Kiely is asked about the chief reasons for reaching such an admirable level of consistency. "Good coaching is number one, both on the pitch and off the pitch," Kiely responds.

"If you've got good coaches who've got good programmes of work, who are able to implement them across the season, I think that's a key ingredient."

So, combining graft with craft matters deeply. "It's only through good coaching that players are going to improve, be it in their conditioning or be it in their hurling," he adds.

"We've got fantastic coaches who've been involved with players over the last nine years, just incredible coaches."

One of the most respected sporting minds in the country, Paul Kinnerk, occupies a central role. "Paul Kinnerk leads the coaching programme, and as we all know, Paul leaves no stone unturned," Kiely explains.

"His attention to detail is unrivalled. His understanding of the game, but I think most importantly, his innovation in terms of his coaching as well in terms of the impact he can make on a game through his coaching over multiple seasons.

"I think it can be seen in how our team has developed over the last nine years. We've had some fantastic S&C coaches as well."

Changes have occurred and Kiely acknowledges the contribution of those, who have served the Limerick cause. "Adrian O'Brien has come in this year and has made a massive impact in that regard," Kiely adds.

"Ger Barry has joined us and Liam Cronin has joined us in our coaching ticket as well and have all made great impacts, as has everybody who has joined the group. We're just very fortunate that the coaching is driving the standards and the player group alongside it, they're very ambitious, they're very hardworking, they challenge each other to get better, they challenge themselves to get better all the time and when you marry the two together, that's what you get."

During Kiely's tenure, Limerick have responded to setbacks. Undoubtedly, the 2024 Munster SHC and All-Ireland semi-final defeats to Cork hurt Limerick. "Yes, losing is an intrinsic part of sport and when it happens, you have to accept it and you have to use it as a motivation to go back and improve again and do things better," Kiely responds.

"Clearly, you lose for a reason, you lose because you didn't do what you set out to do in the first place and nothing else will deter us from accepting that any time we have lost, it's been on ourselves, it's stuff we haven't done, it's things we haven't been as a group in those moments that have cost us those games.

"It's on us at the end of the day, we lose because of our performance, we win because of our performance and that's it."