JOHN KIELY HAS dismissed accusations of Limerick gamesmanship as “absolutely crazy” and “utterly laughable”.

Kiely’s champions fell six points behind Galway in Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final before goalkeeper Nickie Quaid was treated during a momentum-breaking pause. Whatever the correlation, they outscored Galway by 1-18 to 0-6 from that moment.

Opposition manager Henry Shefflin protested on the sideline during the stoppage while Waterford boss Davy Fitzgerald said it wasn’t the first time this year that Limerick “chose their moment… to break up the play”.

“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that we’re talking about this two days after two All-Ireland semi-finals,” said Kiely at a press event on Monday.

“It’s utterly laughable, to be quite honest with you. It’s unbelievable.

“Of course, it’s a focus that has been driven by a few individuals but I find it absolutely crazy that we’re talking about this two days after an All-Ireland semi-final.”

Kiely was asked if Quaid’s issue was related to contact lenses.

“I’m not privy to Nickie’s medical history,” he retorted. “Can you imagine me going to Nickie, ‘What’s your sight like, Nickie?’ Would you seriously think I’d be doing such a thing like that? Absolutely not.

“Number one, I will highlight, who called in the doctor to Nickie? James Owens, the referee. So I’d say go and ask James Owens.

“Why did James Owens (do that)? Because his umpire expressed concern to James Owens about Nickie, because Nickie wasn’t feeling well. That’s what happened. Fact.

“Obviously these people that are commenting online don’t know the facts so I think the facts are very important.”

Kiely was also forthright in his backing for women’s footballers and camogie players as they protest to demand minimum standards of care and welfare to be met.

“The girls, first and foremost, are dead right to be looking for standards that I would consider to be the basic standards. Like having a doctor at training. What happens if somebody has a serious head collision and has a serious concussion? Who looks after that player?

“They need to have access to a gym. Surely that’s a basic requirement that could be met without there being an inordinate cost involved. Every village, every club, every school has a gym. Finding access to one shouldn’t surely be a cost-preventative measure, should it? There’s a lot of schools that would be quite happy to allow access to their gyms.

“I just think it’s more having the will to do these things rather than the money or financial resources to do it.

“We (Limerick) are certainly not spending any more money now than we did six years ago. We’re just spending on the right things. And when we spend it, it’s value.

“The same with the meals. How can you expect an athlete to perform if they’re not nutritionally able to recover from the training they’re doing? 95% of recovery is food and sleep. 95%. So they need to be fed. Simple. This is not rocket science, okay?

“Then, how can we possibly expect elite athletes to travel around the country for nothing? Surely be to God, those attributes are just part and parcel of being an elite sportsperson.

“We can’t expect there to be an elite level if you don’t resource it so it’s not an option, being honest with you. It’s a consequence of what we expect as a cultural organisation as the GAA is.

“If we want to have elite athletes that are going to inspire younger athletes to take up the game and enjoy the game and play it, well then we have to resource it and the Government has to support that cultural institution which is in every single parish across our country.

“Of course they should and they are but they have to probably go a bit further with it because ladies’ sport has grown and is growing faster than any other sport.

“I have two girls at home and I see the amount of hurleys they go through and the amount of kit they go through and the boots they go through and I’m delighted that they’re interested and that they play.

“But I want to think that they would have every opportunity in the future were they to be able to make it onto an elite camogie team or ladies football team that they would be resourced properly and treated well, and their health looked after while they’re doing so.

“So those aspirations have to be real. And if those girls, who are very smart at 10, 11, 12 years of age, don’t see ladies’ sport being resourced in the right way, well then there’s only going to be one outcome. They’re not going to aspire to want to be part of that. So every boy, every girl should have an equal opportunity to aspire to play at elite level.”

Kiely believes agreement on a pathway towards equality is needed, adding that it was a matter of expanding the pool rather than subtracting from the pot of money available to men’s football and hurling teams.

“We’re already saying that this is the standard. Why would you drop your standards just so that you can broaden a lower standard? No, you have a different kind of discussion. You say how can we drive the standards across the board?”

On his injured captain Declan Hannon, Kiely said he will have “milestones” to meet from this week onwards to prove his fitness for the final against Kilkenny.

“Declan is so experienced, we can afford to give him the full length of time to leave it happen because we don’t have to worry about him in terms of his preparation.”

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