Manager John Kiely praises 'great energy' of Kyle Hayes as Limerick star returns from injury

JOHN Kiely hailed Kyle Hayes’ return to competitive hurling for the Limerick senior side, six months after suffering a serious neck injury.

Hayes, who suffered the injury on club duty with Kildimo-Pallaskenry, played over an hour of Limerick's 0-36 to 0-21 win over Tipperary in the Allianz Hurling League at FBD Semple Stadium.

READ NEXT: Dominant Limerick cruise to 15-point win over Tipperary in Allianz Hurling League

“He had a serious injury,” acknowledged Kiely after the 15-point win in Thurles on Saturday.

“It took a lot of time to make sure that he was 100%.

“In fairness, the medical team have done a super job with him. For himself, his energy has been great and his approach to it, he's been very patient with it," he said of the attacking wing back's return.

“I thought the last few weeks in training, he's really pushed on and he was ready for tonight. Listen, it's something he can build on. It was never about going out there to blow it away.

“He knew himself he was going to have to work his way into the game and work his way through the next couple of games just to get that match sharpness and engine up to spec.

“So for him, it's a positive, we'll build on it hopefully in the next week.”

Limerick got off to a flier, scoring the first seven points and never looked back in a dominant win.

“I know Tipp were probably not where they would have liked themselves to be tonight, they were a bit off it,” Kiely said.

“But ultimately all we can do is look after ourselves and I think our opening 15 minutes in particular was very strong and set the tone for us tonight.”

Limerick are now unbeaten in their last 13 meetings with Tipperary in league and championship, the Shannonsiders last defeat to the Premier County was in a 2019 Munster senior hurling championship round robin fixture.

Saturday night's game at Semple Stadium was watched by an impressive attendance of 15,221. Next up for Limerick is a meeting with Offaly at Glenisk O'Connor Park, Tullamore on Sunday next, 2pm.

Meanwhile, Limerick senior footballers’ promotion hopes in Division 3 of the Allianz Football League suffered a blow yesterday afternoon  as Jimmy Lee's charges suffered a 1-18 to 1-15 defeat to Sligo at Markievicz Park.

Talented attacker James Naughton excelled for Limerick  scoring 0-07, but the visitors’ hopes of getting something from this fixture faded when Sean Clancy was sent-off with 20 minutes left.  

In Division 1B of the Centra National Camogie League, Limerick defeated Offaly 1-15 to 2-9 for a second successive victory.