Limerick hurling manager John Kiely wary of Galway

It is a remarkable success story. Kiely, who hails from Galbally, traditionally a football outpost on the Limerick-Tipperary boarder in the south of the county, can boast that record against virtually all the major hurling counties.

They’ve won finals against Clare (4), Kilkenny (3), Waterford (3), Cork (3), Tipperary (2) and Galway (1). It is a remarkable, and truly unprecedented run for a county that hadn’t won a National Hurling League since the 1990s, an All-Ireland since 1973 and had only one Munster crown since Kiely himself was on the fringes of the panel in the mid-1990s.

Therefore, experience and knowhow is in bucketloads for Kiely and Paul Kinnerk, his trusted lieutenant. A two-week turnaround from the nail-biting success over neighbours Clare is something the bulk of his squad, and backroom team are used to.

“Once we had something to eat (after defeating Clare), we started to turn to people within the group that are apart to the preparations and organising for July 19th. On the train on the way down, we got a lot of that work done as well. We are lucky that we have a lot of reference points in terms of being there before. We will keep it simple. We keep it simple for players, to have as little impact on them as possible.

“We know the things not to do. You do lean on your experiences. We know what works, we know what has worked well in the past and what hasn’t worked well. We will obviously critique that but we have all those reference points to fall back on”, explained the manager.

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Focus flipped quickly from Clare, a side who Kiely has faced 13 times in Championship since 2017, to a new-look Galway side, who he hasn’t crossed paths within the white heat of Championship since Henry Shefflin’s tenure, in the 2023 semi-final.

Despite winning all four championship matches over the men in maroon during his tenure, he was quick to point out the rise of Galway, with an obvious nod to the final round of the League, which was effectively a semi-final.

“Galway have been incredibly impressive. Their trajectory over the last 12 months has been phenomenal. We saw that ourselves in the League in the spring, so are we surprised that they are there? No, not at all.

"They are a super, super side. They have brilliant hurlers and they have bought into the system they are operating on and they are doing exceptionally well. They are racking up big scores, they’ve been completely dominant in recent matches that they’ve played”.

That mid-March league clash, which Limerick edged 2-27 to 0-31 on home soil, saw Limerick line out with 12 of the 15 that started their most recent outing – meaning Galway will have plenty to digest about the experienced Treaty outfit.

Injuries haven’t curtailed the plans of Kiely, with only one or two fringe players absent for short spells, effectively allowing a full deck, something which wasn’t always afforded to Limerick on their path to glory.

“You want all your players available, if possible. So, to have pretty much all our players available heading into this last week of this campaign is a privilege”.

For all of the experience spoken about, Limerick had six subs who have yet to start a Championship game. He catapulted Fintan Fitzgerald into action, for only a second sub appearance of the campaign, but Kiely believes the balance is in the squad.

“Fintan has a lot of very experienced players around him, who will impart their knowledge. But they’ll just get on with it. Those young lads, they’ll lean on each other. (The build-up) will add its own energy to the new players and it’s about enjoying it.”

“I have met Micheál Donoghue a huge number of times, both on and off the field. I have huge regard for him – he knows the game inside out and upside down. He has a load of experience, he was with Tipperary originally, as an analyst so he has brought a lot of that experience with to Galway initially.

"He knows Galway hurling. He is an experienced manager now, with a proven track record – including an All-Ireland winning success. So he knows what to do”, explained Kiely.

“He has put together a fantastic group of people around him, as well as a fantastic group of people on the pitch, so we are under no illusions about the challenge. We have huge regard for Micheál and his team.”

Since the his maiden season in charge, 2017, Kiely can boast 40 victories, four draws and 13 defeats across his 57 championship games in charge. Eleven of those wins have come at Croke Park.