I’M KIELY ANNOYED
■ Kilkenny 3-17 Limerick 1-15 ALLIANZ HL SEMI-FINAL STEPHEN BARRY reports
IT’S been at least seven years since Limerick played as badly as they did in this Hurling League semi-final, according to John Kiely.
“Embarrassing” was his most damning assessment of the limp performance in an eight-point beatdown by Kilkenny, which sent the Cats into back-to-back finals.
Limerick’s wide-open defence could’ve been taken for more than three goals, their attacking output amounted to just 1-8 from play and even when they had an extra man for 18 minutes, they were still outscored by Kilkenny.
Far from the standard Kiely is used to seeing throughout their four-in-arow domination.
“I can assure you we’re not happy to be out of the League. It’s not part of any grand plan. This is not us exiting the League on our terms,” he said.
Facts
“This is us being kicked out of the League on Kilkenny’s terms. That’s the facts of the matter.
“Our performance today was embarrassing at times. “There’s no excuse. Had we trained today I would have expected to get three times more out of them.
“It’s not acceptable. We know that, they know that. We have four weeks now to go and put our shoulder to the wheel and by Jesus, we have a lot of improving to do.”
Kiely outlined how Limerick fell flat in all the areas they usually pride themselves on: ball handling, defensive intensity, work rate, and shooting efficiency.
Their skill execution was “at a very low level”.
Positive
While Seán Finn’s return from a cruciate injury was a positive, Peter Casey’s straight red card puts his participation in their Munster Championship opener against Clare in doubt.
They now have a month before that Cusack Park crusade to work on their defensive solidity after conceding three goals in consecutive visits to SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
“It is not just a full-back line issue,” said Kiely.
“The quality of the ball going in is determined by the effort outside. The effort outside was abysmal.
“When you have good quality forwards, what else are they going to do? They are going to nail you. And we got nailed, good and proper.
“Kilkenny were full value for the goals they got. They probably should have had two or three more.
“It is a concern but not just in the full-back line.”
All three goals, from Eoin Cody, Luke Hogan and TJ Reid, came from long direct balls into one-on-one match
Livid Treaty boss John says ‘embarrassing’ display an eye-opener
ups in the full-forward line.
All three originated from Limerick puck-outs
For the first two, Jordan Molloy won possession as they forced Nickie Quaid long.
For the third, John Donnelly tracked Cian Lynch into his own half to turn over the sliotar.
Cody and Reid had the beating of Barry Nash and Aaron Costello and Paddy Deegan’s pinpoint deliveries gave his forwards every advantage for two of those majors.
Adrian Mullen and Martin Keoghan were denied further goals by Quaid saves. Reid had a free unwittingly blocked on the line by Nash’s ankle and Owen Wall hit the side-netting when hooked by Finn.
Kiely ruled out fatigue as a factor and insisted that rectifying such errors isn’t as simple as pressing a button.
“The lack of response when the challenge came was the real disappointing thing. There was no response from us,” he added.
“Spaces are up for grabs on this team now, that is the facts of the matter. And it is the fellas that really want to grab it by the scruff of the neck and lead it are the fellas that are going to be there.”
It had all started so well for Limerick. Facing into a gale, they buried the first 1-2 as Cillian Buckley’s spill under an aimless Nash free allowed Aaron Gillane to dispatch the goal.
Incredibly, Kilkenny struck back with the next 2-3 in just four minutes, with Molloy tormenting Lynch and Cody unstoppable when isolated on the edge of the square.
Their third made it 3-6 to 1-6 at half-time although Cody was sent off for a second booking right after the break.
A trademark third-quarter surge from Limerick looked inevitable between the wind and the man advantage. But they never fully utilised their spare man before they lost it.
Minutes
Having been outscored by 0-6 to 0-5 in the 18 minutes against 14 men, Casey saw red when drawing blood as he flicked his hurley back at Deegan in an off-the-ball altercation.
Kilkenny’s victory felt secure from there.
“We responded very well to the start Limerick got,” said
Derek Lyng, when asked to pick out the biggest positives. “We hurled our way back into the game.
“When Eoin got sent off in the second half, we managed it pretty well.
“We have a lot of improving still to do but we’re progressing pretty well so I’m happy with that.
We’ll take a lot from it.”