John Kiely hails Limerick players' icy resolve in second-half surge

John Kiely heaped praise on his Limerick players for the second-half surge they summoned against Kilkenny which earned them a fourth All-Ireland Hurling title in a row at Croke Park.

Limerick could have been forgiven if they had been left reeling after Kilkenny's second goal via Paddy Deegan had left them five points adrift early in the second half.

But an outstanding surge saw them wipe out that gap within five minutes before they powered onto the finish line by a 0-30 to 2-15 margin.

Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Kiely credited his team for both their resolve and their ability to stick to the process in the white heat of battle.

"It's down to the players, totally and utterly. We have zero impact on the sideline. It's so hard but the lads, to be fair, showed calmness," he said.

"They were measured in what they were doing. They just trusted in themselves and in the process.

"And I know that might sound boring but it's so important to stick to it because if you go away from it, the whole thing falls away and they just kept chawing away and chawing away at it and I think they wore (Kilkenny) out in the finish."

The third quarter of the match was the point at which Limerick began to rise from their earlier slumber and Kiely felt that period of games had come to their rescue time and time again in 2023.

"We've been very strong in quarter three all year and we needed to be, if there ever was a day," he said, adding that they found the going tough in the first half.

"All credit to Kilkenny. They brought a ferocious intensity in the first 28, 29 minutes of the game and we found it very difficult to live with it.

An ecstatic John Kiely reacts to making history as he masterminded Limerick's four in a row.