JOHN KIELY HAS revealed that Kyle Hayes and David Reidy were touch and go to feature in Sunday’s All-Ireland final due to injury.

Limerick already had talisman Cian Lynch ruled out when the pair went down within minutes of one another in their final training session before the Kilkenny showdown.

“(On) Friday night, Kyle (Hayes) and David Reidy went down with significant injuries,” Kiely said at the team hotel yesterday. 

“There was no guarantee they were going to make the game until an hour before it. They were significant injuries. Just the medical team did a great job. The boys themselves had a very tough couple of days, very tough. But these things happen.

“Our session on a Friday night is 35 minutes. It’s just illogical to expect to get two significant injuries in the space of three minutes. You can imagine what it’s like to be there and to see two players pull up, go down whatever.

“It’s a devastating blow but you still have to keep going. That’s really where the resilience we had in the last 10 minutes yesterday, comes from being able to cope with those types of situations.

“These are blows that for some groups they can be fatal in the way they affect everybody. Our boys have tremendous resilience built up over time, particularly this year. They just seemed to roll the punches and keep going and keep coming back for more. 

“That’s probably the most satisfying part of this success this year, just how we just kept on fighting all the way to the end and Kilkenny of course, no better team of course to make you fight all the way to the end. Down to the last second.

“That game was never out of bounds until the whistle was blown, which is a testament to their performance and their contribution as well.”

Centre-forward Hayes contributed four points and Reidy arrived off the bench to help Limerick over the line in a tight victory over Kilkenny.

Had either player failed late fitness tests, Limerick would not have been able to replace them in their match day panel. GAA rules dictate that a final panel of 26 must be submitted on Thursday morning.

It’s a system that Kiely feels needs to be amended to account for late drop-outs from the squad. 

“It’s illogical to think that you could play an All-Ireland final, train on a Friday, name your squad on a Wednesday but you could potential have Covid cases, injuries, sicknesses, bereavements, God knows what, and you still can’t adjust that panel of 26. 

“That’s ridiculous. Why is that? Someone give me a logical explanation as to why that has to be the case. Why couldn’t we possibly add two more players on Friday night, Saturday morning, Sunday morning to the squad. If two, three, four, whatever number were unavailable. Why? Because it’s written in the rulebook.”

Amid reports that the maor foirne may return in a limited capacity next season, Kiely feels county managers need a way of getting messages across to players in big games. 

“It’s illogical that you can have 30 players on a pitch with 82,000 people there, the biggest sporting spectacle of our country, our culture, and we can’t communicate with the players. Lord God almighty, it just defies all logic.

“The rules committee need to wake up and listen to the people and read the room here. The room is saying, ‘Lads ye are not exactly getting the temperature right here. Ye need to move with the times.’ And this has been a very retrograde step in my view. And you have a lot of nonsense going on because of it.

“Give us four incursions in a half, that’s it. We’re done. That takes out all of the nonsense. You drop your ticket at the sideline as you’re going in. You know you’ve only got four or five incursions, whatever it is, and you drop your ticket at the sideline as you’re going in.

“And off you go. And you use your five as best you can. If you’re deemed to be doing something unsportsmanlike, like standing in space, you get your yellow card or red card and go to the stand. You lose all your other visits. It can be done. We just need to get smart.”