John Kiely 'elated' by Limerick victory but defeat tough to take for Clare's Brian Lohan

John Kiely said Limerick were determined to not let Clare come into their "backyard" and snatch the Munster championship from their grasp.

Having lost to Clare by a point at the TUS Gaelic Grounds last month, Limerick responded in impressive fashion as they overturned a half-time deficit to complete their first Munster five-in-a-row.

Aaron Gillane hit 1-11 for the All-Ireland champions, who led by four points with ten minutes remaining but were then forced to withstand a late Clare rally to hold on for a 1-23 to 1-22 success.

"I'm just thrilled and elated for the lads," Limerick manager Kiely told RTÉ Sport. "They've put a huge amount of work in over these last number of years.

"This year has been a really tough campaign, every team has brought an unbelievable level of performance against us. Clare were the one team that beat us in the round robin and we were very determined that wasn’t going to happen today.

"I don’t think anybody likes someone coming into your backyard and taking anything from them. We were always going to have to fight tooth and nail.

"This is a top-quality Clare side, they have shown that in terms of their resilience and determination. Hats off to them, they brought a tremendous effort. It was down to the smallest of margins. We just came off at the right side."

Limerick trailed to a Mark Rodgers' goal at the interval but they shifted up a gear after the restart, with their bench also making an impact during a tense final finish.

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Tom Morrissey