John Kiely suggests Limerick performance in semi-final defeat to Kilkenny among worst of his eight years in charge

John Kiely said Limerick's Allianz Hurling League semi-final defeat to Kilkenny ranked among the worst performances of his time in charge and warned his players that they have serious work to do ahead of the Munster Championship next month.

The Treaty won all five of their Division 1 group games but were well beaten by a Kilkenny side who conceded the first 1-02 of the game and played with a man less for almost 20 minutes but still won 3-17 to 1-15.

"It was very disappointing," Kiely told RTÉ Sport. "We had a very positive first six or seven minutes but we failed to bring the intensity of the game to the level we would be accustomed to doing.

"We made a lot of very basic errors: dropped balls, missed pick-ups, misplaced and incomplete passes. Just a lack of energy and a lack of cohesion in our performance that we were very disappointed with.

"In the second half there was a bit of a kick in us at the start but it was a very small kick. When the challenge came from Kilkenny we just didn't respond and that’s very disappointing from us.

"It’s a disappointing end to our league campaign. We came here with the intention of winning the game to go on to a league final, that was part of our preparations for the championship, and now we have been unceremoniously kicked out of it by a much better team on the day.

"There might have been eight points on the scoreboard but it was 16-20 points in reality."

"I would say in the eight years now we are on the road it would be in the top two or three poorest performances of our time"

In difficult conditions at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Limerick were held to just 16 scores and never imposed their trademark flowing style.

"The game was broken, there were 30 frees, which gives you a break in play. You