Credit where it’s due.
Limerick hurling is on the rise. Two All-Ireland under-21 Championships in the last three years. Graduates from those winning panels combined with the survivors from the county’s last Munster championship triumph in 2013 is a fair assembly of talent.
They’ve a good man at the helm, too. A manager who has the best interests of his native county at heart. John Kiely is a former Limerick senior football captain. He was also a member of the Shannonsiders’ senior hurling team back in his pomp.
He’s leading. That young squad are following and who knows how far the journey might take them. Based on the evidence of this National League campaign to date, where Limerick have progressed to their first semi-final in a long time, they shouldn’t fear any other sides come Championship.
What more can the man do to get a start? https://t.co/VQCKBh9WCz
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) March 20, 2018
On top of all of that, this progress has been forged minus the presence of ten Na Piarsaigh players.
When those lads come back in after their All-Ireland club final replay clash with Cuala this Saturday, the training sessions will get even more competitive and the team selections will get even more difficult.
That’s a pleasant headache for John Kiely to have. In fairness to the Galbally club man, he’s worked hard for that break because it can’t have been easy going into this crucial League campaign without those key men.
Because he was under some pressure at the beginning of this campaign. Last year ended disappointingly with losses to Clare and Kilkenny knocking them out of the championship early, so the famously ambitious Limerick hurling support wouldn’t have been brimming with patience.
The Galbally club man deserves huge credit, however, for his sound treatment of the Na Piarsaigh players. In an age where the club is often ignored at the expense of the county, where the morale and wishes of individual players are ignored, his main concern has been on Na Piarsaigh winning that All-Ireland. For the players themselves. For the whole county.
Shane Dowling was on Tuesday’s GAA Hour Hurling Show and he spoke from experience on his dealings with his fellow county man, drawing on a phone call between Kiely and those players after their promotion sealing victory over Galway.
“John rang us the day after they beat Galway. It was nothing about that match, it was just to see how we were, and he just wished us luck in the final.
“John is a genuine Limerick man. He was above in Croker on Saturday night, and he wanted to see us walk up the steps of the Hogan Stand as much as anyone else did. We know those moments are few and far between…It’s a very difficult situation for John.”
Dowling and his fellow Na Piarsaigh boys have been keeping an eye on Limerick’s progress, and they know it’ll be a challenge to slot back in there.
“There are ten of us in the panel at the minute, whether ten of us are called back in is another thing.
“He has a team there. He has a team that are after to a League semi-final, which no Limerick team has been able to do for a long, long time. So it’s not going to be the case that 10 of us go back in there and four or five of us just slot into position. It’s going to be the total opposite.
They’ll be up for the challenge, though. Don’t doubt that for a second.
“They’ve been training since November, they’ve five or six months of hard work behind them. We are going to have to go in and prove ourselves. It’s not a cliche, it’s a reality…We’re going to have to show what we have to get back into the team.
“We’ve been there for the last number of years and couldn’t get out of Division One B so maybe the Na Piarsaigh lads are the problem,” he laughed.
You can listen to the Dowling interview and much more from The GAA Hour Hurling Show right here.
