LIMERICK concluded their League campaign with a big win over Westmeath at the weekend in Mullingar.
The 3-26 to 0-18 win left Limerick 4th in Division 1A with two wins, two losses and a draw.
After holding the title for two years, Limerick officially relinquished their crown at the weekend with manager John Kiely highlighting that the performance on the day was the key for his squad despite the opponents.
“It doesn’t really feel like a seventeen point victory to be honest.”
“We were chasing our own performance, it didn’t really matter who we were playing today. We go after our own performance levels and that’s where our focus is at.”
On Sunday, Kiely handed Jerome Boylan, Brian O’Grady and Ronan Connolly starts with the later making his full debut for the senior side.
That is in addition to debuts to Colin Coughlan, Cathal O’Neill and O’Grady earlier on the in the campiagn with the manager pleased to have come through the game with no new injuries and a first appearance in four weeks for reigning Hurler of the Year Gearoid Hegarty.
“We’ve managed to get everyone onto the field out of the group, that’s a real positive and they’ve all made a telling impact. The lads coming off the bench made a very good impact on the game, they brought a lot of urgency and ruthlessness to the last quarter and that was very pleasing to see. We’ve come through clean in terms of injuries, its an important aspect of the game that we did come through clean”
Attention will now quickly shift to July 3 and the meeting with Cork in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship semi-final with Cork.
And after ending the league on a high with consecutive wins, Kiely says there will be huge competition for places amongst the panel as they seek to retain their All-Ireland title for the first time ever.
“Our group is very competitive at the moment, that’s the way we need to have it for us to be the best we can be. It’s a clean slate now, the league is over. It’s everything on the table on the 3rd of July and we’ll be going after it hard and fast for the next 3 weeks to make sure that we’re the best team we can be on the 3rd of July.”
“We’ve work hard the last month. We’ve a good lot of the lads coming back into full contact training this week who’ve been injured the last while which is another big plus for us. Things are positive, but we understand we’ve a lot of work to do to get ready for July”
“From the start of the league we’ve looked to improve our performances throughout, we’ve done that incrementally, Were happy with the progress guys are making and as I’ve said things are positive from our perspective at the moment. A very competitive 3 weeks ahead I’m sure.”
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