Limerick manager John Kiely pleased to have Peter Casey back on the pitch

LIMERICK senior hurling manager John Kiely is pleased to have Peter Casey back on the pitch.

Casey was introduced as a second half substitute in Limerick's victory over Galway in the Allianz Hurling League at the TUS Gaelic Grounds on Saturday.

Last April, the Na Piarsaigh clubman was carried off with a broke ankle in Limerick's victory over Tipperary in the Munster SHC.

“Peter has had a long period of time in recovery from his injury last year and it's been a piece of work to get it right. I must credit the medical team with the work that they've done with him, and the effort he's put in himself to get himself back on the pitch again. Many of us leaving the Gaelic Grounds that day never thought we'd see him in a green jersey again and it's great to see him back,” John Kiely said after their win over Galway.

It was Casey's first appearance since the county final between Doon and Na Piarsaigh last November. Kiely feels Casey needs plenty of games over the next few weeks.

“But I think he'd be the first to put his hand up and say, listen, I need plenty of games to get up to the match pace of it and get the sharpness going.”

The Limerick senior hurling manager also said the experienced duo of Darragh O'Donovan and Declan Hannon are making progress.

"Darragh is in good shape, so it won't take a whole lot of time once we do get him fully fit and reintegrated into all of the sessions. But we won't play any of these guys unless they're 100 percent and they know that. So they're working hard, just like everybody really.”

Limerick now switch their focus to the rescheduled clash against Kilkenny next Saturday at 3;30pm in UPMC Nowlan Park. Kiely felt there was an improvement in his side's 1-27 to 0-18 victory over Galway on Saturday night in the TUS Gaelic Grounds.

“Last weekend was definitely off for us. We weren't just right on it. We'd have been disappointed with our performance, but this week has been an improvement.”

“Next week we'll be looking to see if we can try and improve on tonight. We can't allow the opposition to get as many shots off as we allowed Galway to get off tonight because they won't be missing them. Galway will be disappointed with their accuracy off the shots they had.”

Kiely said he didn't see Conor Cooney's shoulder challenge which resulted in Mike Casey being carried off in the first half.

"I haven't seen it back so I can't say. Listen, Mike is ok. He was a bit groggy coming off. Hopefully he'll recover quickly, and we'll get him back on the pitch as soon as possible” added Kiely.