John Kiely: Limerick appetite only growing stronger after league triumph

Limerick manager John Kiely has said that the Treaty side's appetite is only growing stronger after they added to their bulging trophy cabinet with a comprehensive Allianz Hurling League win over Kilkenny at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Goals in either half from Barry Nash and Aaron Gillane earned a first league title for Limerick since 2020, and the manner of their victory bodes well for the championship season where they will try and lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup for the fifth time in six seasons.

"Let’s be honest about it, we worked hard in this league, we took it as seriously as we possibly could," Kiely told RTÉ after the win.

"We went after it and we put ourselves in this position today to have a chance of winning it.

"I'm delighted with that. It augers well in terms of the players’ attitude, their appetite for work, their appetite to play.

"It's helped us to make the squad even more competitive, it has helped us to get players who were out injured back on the field.

"There’s loads of positives there for us but the big game is now on the 23rd [April, against Waterford]."

Even with that 11-point winning cushion on Sunday, Kiely was content rather than overjoyed with what he witnessed from his players.

"There were aspects of our play that we would be very, very happy with, we controlled the game for good periods of the game," he said.

"Our use of the ball was good, we had plenty of scoring chances, obviously the 20 wides will be something we’d be disappointed with. Our decision making around some of those shots was disappointing.

"Overall happy with the performance but a significant improvement will be required."

Limerick didn’t score from play in the first 15 minutes and for Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng, that’s when they really needed to