JOURNEYING to and from Tuesday evening’s launch of the Munster Senior Hurling Championship on the scenic grounds of Muckross House in Killarney, Limerick manager John Kiely had plenty of time to reflect on what was a lacklustre National League campaign by his charges.
Only a month out from the Championship opener away to Tipperary, the Shannonsiders fulfilled their last meaningful fixture with a hugely disappointing Division 1A loss to bottom side Wexford at the Gaelic Grounds at the weekend.
“A very poor performance,” acknowledged Kiely. “We lacked flow, and we lacked patterns to our game. And, to be fair to Wexford, they should have won by a lot, lot more.”
Listed for duty, inspirational past captain Declan Hannon was ruled out with a minor leg injury, while David Reidy missed the tie through sickness.
Full-back Mike Casey was forced off with a dead leg and is expected back into training by the weekend.
Kyle Hayes is troubled by a hamstring issue.
The returning Darragh O’Donovan turned in an impressive hour’s showing.
On those niggling injuries, Kiely commented at the weekend: “You don’t get any break to get your head above water and have a look at the work that needs to be done. We have that now, we have a month to get ready for the 20th of April. We are going to need every minute of it.”
“We have probably one of our greatest challenges ahead of us because clearly, a performance of that nature tonight is not going to put you in a place where you are going to be competitive in a championship match, let alone successful. Listen we have a huge body of work to get done. We have a massive challenge ahead of us.”
Limerick are currently at a warm-weather training camp in The Algarve, Portugal.
