SO THERE’S THE scenario you might not have dreamt at the start of the Munster hurling championship; if the cards fall the wrong way for Limerick this Sunday, they will have no more part to play in the All-Ireland championship.
A loss to Tipperary in Semple Stadium, coupled with a Cork win over Clare would leave it that they are all tied up with head-to-head rules and points.
In a way, the task is simplified for the side going for five Liam MacCarthy Cups in six years – they are in championship mode from here on in after the defeat to Clare.
Manager John Kiely will spend all week avoiding the small talk at his place of work, Abbey CBS school in Tipperary town, before getting on a war footing.
In years past, it hasn’t been that this fixture has fallen within the school term, but it adds another little flavour along the border for Kiely from Galbally to the Glen of Aherlow.
“The boys in the school are very capable of having a cut!” he jokes.
“It’s very good-natured. It’s great banter, great fun and a great occasion.”
Will there be, perhaps, a jersey day for the school this Friday?
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“If they win, they’ll definitely wear their jerseys the day after. It just creates a great atmosphere and great buzz around the place. That’s important too, you know.
“We have a past pupil in Johnny Ryan now who is playing for Tipperary which is brilliant for the school and brilliant for his family and brilliant for his club Arravale Rovers.
“We want to encourage young people to play hurling, we are actively trying to do that on a constant basis in the school for many, many years. The more young fellas that we can see with a hurley in their hand, the better.”
With that defeat to Clare, the sense the rest of Ireland has is that the aura of invincibility has gone. Kiely guarded strongly against it and referenced it in blunt terms after they were fortunate to survive a late push from Waterford in the first round of Munster.
Losing four-time All-Star Sean Finn to a cruciate injury has been unfortunate too and robs the team of an obvious anchor point.
But Kiely believes all these tags to be irrelevant in any respect. Grand for chewing the fat among hurling followers, but that thinking has no purchase in the dressing rooms of intercounty teams.
“I think that aura mightn’t be necessarily held in the opposition camps. I don’t think that exists in the other camps,” he explains.
On a worldwide sense, the hurling public had all the big love for Limerick when they made their breakthrough. But a team only really know they have arrived in the GAA world when people start resenting them and tallying up their supposed list of advantages and get to nit-picking about how they treat the rules of the game. There’s a good bit of that around Limerick now.
“That’s human nature, isn’t it?” asks Kiely.
“Of course it is. There is nothing surprising in that, it is just human nature. We were very grateful for the support when we had it!
“It’s just reality. Every day you go to play a hurling match, nobody would play it if they didn’t think they were going to win it. So every team that plays us I am sure believes that they are going to get a result.
“(The) Munster championship is very competitive. Extraordinarily competitive for every point you can get on the board.
“Our focus now is to see where the next two points are available and get ourselves ready for that. We will be doing everything in our power to earn those next two points.”
This game of course would have been the one where Limerick and Tipperary players were keen to wear jerseys with the logo for the Dillon Quirke Foundation, in honour of the Tipperary hurler who passed away during a game for his club Clonoulty-Rossmore last year. The GAA’s central ruling body did not permit that.
Kiely had been approached by Dillon’s father Dan to get involved, after a chance meeting.
“We’re only too delighted to get involved and support it in any way we can,” said Kiely.
“The aim of the Foundation, to screen young people under the age of 16, and help them and their families to become aware of conditions that they might not be aware of and how to manage those and hopefully save a few lives along the way is a very noble aim and ambition and desire for the Foundation.
“It’s going to take a huge effort, there’s no two ways about that. But I think there’s a lot of support for it and sure none of us knows when that will come on our doorstep either so if we can help in any way, we’re very happy to and I’m sure we will in many ways.”
He added, “I think the Association will help too, I know there’s been a bit of disappointment around the jersey part of it but I think in the fullness of time I think the Association’s contribution will be seen to be significant.
“Maybe this just didn’t work out right now but I’m sure other stuff will, it’s only just one small piece of the jigsaw and there’s many, many more pieces to the jigsaw. This is not something that’s going to be here for a short while.”
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Kiely on his Tipp pupils: 'If they win, they’ll definitely wear their jerseys the day after'
SO THERE’S THE scenario you might not have dreamt at the start of the Munster hurling championship; if the cards fall the wrong way for Limerick this Sunday, they will have no more part to play in the All-Ireland championship.
A loss to Tipperary in Semple Stadium, coupled with a Cork win over Clare would leave it that they are all tied up with head-to-head rules and points.
In a way, the task is simplified for the side going for five Liam MacCarthy Cups in six years – they are in championship mode from here on in after the defeat to Clare.
Manager John Kiely will spend all week avoiding the small talk at his place of work, Abbey CBS school in Tipperary town, before getting on a war footing.
In years past, it hasn’t been that this fixture has fallen within the school term, but it adds another little flavour along the border for Kiely from Galbally to the Glen of Aherlow.
“The boys in the school are very capable of having a cut!” he jokes.
“It’s very good-natured. It’s great banter, great fun and a great occasion.”
Will there be, perhaps, a jersey day for the school this Friday?
“If they win, they’ll definitely wear their jerseys the day after. It just creates a great atmosphere and great buzz around the place. That’s important too, you know.
“We have a past pupil in Johnny Ryan now who is playing for Tipperary which is brilliant for the school and brilliant for his family and brilliant for his club Arravale Rovers.
“We want to encourage young people to play hurling, we are actively trying to do that on a constant basis in the school for many, many years. The more young fellas that we can see with a hurley in their hand, the better.”
With that defeat to Clare, the sense the rest of Ireland has is that the aura of invincibility has gone. Kiely guarded strongly against it and referenced it in blunt terms after they were fortunate to survive a late push from Waterford in the first round of Munster.
Losing four-time All-Star Sean Finn to a cruciate injury has been unfortunate too and robs the team of an obvious anchor point.
But Kiely believes all these tags to be irrelevant in any respect. Grand for chewing the fat among hurling followers, but that thinking has no purchase in the dressing rooms of intercounty teams.
On a worldwide sense, the hurling public had all the big love for Limerick when they made their breakthrough. But a team only really know they have arrived in the GAA world when people start resenting them and tallying up their supposed list of advantages and get to nit-picking about how they treat the rules of the game. There’s a good bit of that around Limerick now.
“That’s human nature, isn’t it?” asks Kiely.
“Of course it is. There is nothing surprising in that, it is just human nature. We were very grateful for the support when we had it!
“It’s just reality. Every day you go to play a hurling match, nobody would play it if they didn’t think they were going to win it. So every team that plays us I am sure believes that they are going to get a result.
“(The) Munster championship is very competitive. Extraordinarily competitive for every point you can get on the board.
“Our focus now is to see where the next two points are available and get ourselves ready for that. We will be doing everything in our power to earn those next two points.”
This game of course would have been the one where Limerick and Tipperary players were keen to wear jerseys with the logo for the Dillon Quirke Foundation, in honour of the Tipperary hurler who passed away during a game for his club Clonoulty-Rossmore last year. The GAA’s central ruling body did not permit that.
Kiely had been approached by Dillon’s father Dan to get involved, after a chance meeting.
“We’re only too delighted to get involved and support it in any way we can,” said Kiely.
“The aim of the Foundation, to screen young people under the age of 16, and help them and their families to become aware of conditions that they might not be aware of and how to manage those and hopefully save a few lives along the way is a very noble aim and ambition and desire for the Foundation.
“It’s going to take a huge effort, there’s no two ways about that. But I think there’s a lot of support for it and sure none of us knows when that will come on our doorstep either so if we can help in any way, we’re very happy to and I’m sure we will in many ways.”
“Maybe this just didn’t work out right now but I’m sure other stuff will, it’s only just one small piece of the jigsaw and there’s many, many more pieces to the jigsaw. This is not something that’s going to be here for a short while.”
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behind enemy lines John Kiely Limerick