THIS Sunday, John Kiely and his Limerick players will return to Croke Park as they face Munster rivals Cork in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling final.
The defending champions will look to retain their title for the first ever time against the Rebels who are second on the all time roll of honour.
This will be the first ever All-Ireland final between the Shannonsiders and the Rebels and the second consecutive All Munster final. As such, the importance of the game is not lost on both sets of teams and fans.
It will be the second meeting of Cork and Limerick this summer with the Shannonsiders taking an eight point win from Semple Stadium in the Munster semi-final in July. Since then, Cork have regrouped expertly, overcoming Clare, Dublin and Kilkenny to book a first All-Ireland final berth since 2013.
However the manager stressed the importance of his side focusing on themselves and not letting any distractions creep in approaching the decider.
“I’m not really too concerned as to the path others have taken. We’re only just concerned about our own path and our own incremental improvement in our performances. Over the next ten days we’ll be looking to go up another gear.”
“Cork have had a great championship and they’re going to bring a really serious challenge to the final, that’s the way it should be, our job is to try and bring as big a challenge as we can and I’ve no doubt it will be a great battle between both sides.”
That win over Cork has continued a recent trend that has seen the sides split the last five meetings, including a draw the last time they faced in Croke Park where Limerick eventually took a win in extra-time in the All-Ireland semi-final.
Cork were the first team to inflict defeat on Limerick after their All-Ireland triumph in 2018 and Kiely believes any team on the day can win, with the side who show and execute their game plan the better likely to come away with the silverware.
“All these matches are all on the day. We all have our parameters around what we’re chasing and in terms of our performances we’ll go after that the same as we always have done, we’ll stick to our routine, we’ll prepare well, prepare hard and we’ll try and bring the best performance we can bring to the pitch on the 22nd.”
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And while Kiely is the figure head of this incredible Limerick side, the Galbally man has heaped praise on his backroom staff in the lead up to the final. In his fifth year in charge, Kiely has seen some overhaul in his backroom set up but has commended the effort of all and highlighted the trust he has place in his men.
“I have to trust the coaches in their planning, be it strength and conditioning or the hurling coaching side of it. We put huge tremendous trust in the coaches. Every team is operating with that level of expertise behind them in an effort to try and peak at the right time. Our coaches have gotten that right from the very outset the last four or five years.”
And facing into a third All-Ireland final in four years, Kiely has spoken about how privileged he and his side are to represent Limerick on the biggest stage.
“Regardless of the success that you might experience in sport, we’re all acutely aware of the fact that it’s a very privileged place to be as a group together and that we need to be very cognisant if the fact it’s a privilege. It’s an honour, something to be treasured.”
Limerick and Cork will throw in this Sunday at 3.30pm in Croke Park in front of 40,000 spectators, the largest sporting event in Ireland since the pandemic first hit in early 2020.
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