John Kiely: Limerick in prime condition after four-week wait

Limerick manager John Kiely insists his side have benefitted from their four-week break ahead of Sunday's All-Ireland SHC semi-final meeting with Galway.

While the Tribesmen were in action in the quarter-finals against Cork in between, the champions have mixed recovery from their epic Munster final victory with intense in-house preparation.

"Maybe four years ago, if you had said you're going to get a four-week break, different scenario," said Kiely.

"This time around, it was exactly what we needed after a long, tough game against Clare. We needed a little bit of time for the bodies to heal after that.

"[It's] a different group now, an older, more mature group. We have a lot more experience as coaches as well so I think we have managed it really well. Everybody is really happy with the schedule and I think that's half the battle.

"They feel that they have enough time for recovery, enough time for work."

The return to fitness of the likes of Hurler of the Year Cian Lynch, Peter Casey and Barry Murphy has taken training to another level, Kiely said.

"Our injury list is very tidy at this stage, which means our sessions are probably the best they have been all season.

"Our lads are mentally fresh, physically fresh and we have a very competitive group at the moment. Everybody is fighting for their place on the 26 or the 15. The lads coming back form injury increases that degree of competitiveness in the group so that's a healthy thing to have.

"With the competitiveness of our group, the lack of game time isn’t an issue. We have as much game time in house as we [would] have outside and it’s under a more controlled environment where we can play as much or as little as we want."

Limerick's last championship defeat came at this stage, in