AHEAD of Limerick’s delayed 2024 campaign, with Sunday’s Munster League opener against Cork in Mallow postponed due to fog, manager John Kiely rated last season’s Munster Senior Championship triumph as “the highlight of my time involved with the team.”
Heading into the closing round, Limerick – with just three points – appeared distant 2023 provincial final contenders but a combination of a one-point win over Cork and Waterford’s shock victory against Tipperary secured a subsequent memorable showdown with Clare at the Gaelic Grounds.
In that cracking decider, Kiely’s troops reversed an earlier loss to the Banner.
The Galbally genius recently told Munster GAA: “I said it at the (championship) launch in Cork that it was going to be the toughest Munster championship in our time and it was.”
“It was a Munster campaign that I think was the highlight of my time involved with the team anyway.
“We didn’t come through it undefeated. Clare had beaten us, Tipp had drawn with us, but I think we showed incredible resilience to keep going regardless.”
“That was a very pressurised scenario that we were in at that point and, you know, there was quite a large proportion of the country hoping that the result would go against us and that we’d be out but listen we hung on in there. We managed to find a way and I think that’s a great sign of a team when you’re under the cosh like that.”
For the scheduled outing with Cork at the weekend, Dan Morrissey was the only player named by Kiely from the XV which started the 2023 All-Ireland Final against Kilkenny at Croke Park.
In contrast, Cork had five – Ger Millerick, Robert Downey, Seán O’Donoghue, Darragh Fitzgibbon, and Shane Kingston – listed for duty from the side that contested last summer’s championship clash with Limerick.
The re-fixture between Limerick and Cork will take place at Mick Neville Park in Rathkeale on Wednesday, January 17, at 7pm.
