John Kiely: 'It all hurts, it will hurt as much as it did last year'
JOHN Kiely doesn't have this feeling too often. Losing in Croke Park has only happened three times now, Kilkenny in 2019, Cork 12 months ago and now this, the most unlikely reversal against 14-man Dublin.
Only in 2017, his first season in charge, has his most talented squad failed to reach the last four. Their consistency unmatched during that period. The fourteen titles collected in that period now feel somewhat distant. Limerick are not the leading force now, the mantle will be taken up by someone else next month.
Kiely, about 40 minutes post match, arrived and as always gave his time to the media.
'Very disappointed, obviously, but we've lost to a better team on the day. Dublin deserve great credit for their performance. To win that game with fourteen men for such a long period of time is such a fantastic achievement for them. I think things stuck for them today, when they went to pick up a ball it stuck, when they went to catch a ball it stuck. They were really good on restarts, on ours and theirs. They were really, really good on the breaking ball."
'When the opportunities came in the last ten minutes they seized upon them and took them,' his side couldn't create a goal, couldn't get themselves back in front after the Dubs had assumed control with that quickfire blast.
His side certainly didn't get near the level of that ferocious Munster decider, 'We weren't 100% sharp on the ball. We turned over balls that we shouldn't have, everything seemed to be that little bit harder for us. I think when you are that little bit off, it gives the opposition a chance. And I'd have to give great credit to Dublin, their performance today.'
The Galbally native was full in his praise of the winning side, he wasn't surprised either, that Dublin had such a display in them, 'We had all our analysis done of Dublin, their performance levels in the Leinster Championship were of a very high level, across various different metrics. Work rate, puckouts, their accuracy has been very, very high. In one game they had over 85%. They might not have done all of those together in a single game in Leinster, but they were extremely competitive. They got their performance level right today, there is great credit due to them.' Did the Munster final take too much from them, nearly 100-minutes of toil, of battle with their neighbours, Cork?
'In a word? No. We drew the Munster final in normal and extra-time. We weren't chasing the drawing score, the penalties were the penalties.' 'We took a bit of time after the Munster final, and after the Munster final and got back on the horse last weekend. I felt the energy levels were good. Our warm-up went well today, and we started well against the breeze today, for the first 10-12 minutes.
'Whatever happened after the sending off, there was a response from Dublin that we didn't have, or give. Once they got their teeth into the contest they gave themselves a great chance.
'Goals win matches, they are a big part of it, they were two well taken goals'.
'It all hurts, it will hurt as much as it did last year, we wanted to be back in training next week'.
The Shannonsiders will reflect on this, with Kiely set to continue into 2026, having agreed a two-year term last Autumn.
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