Limerick hurling manager 'totally energised' by Kilkenny quest

LIMERICK hurling manager John Kiely is “totally energised” by the challenge of facing Kilkenny in Saturday's All Ireland SHC Qualifier in Nowlan Park.

”I’m totally energised by the draw - a fixture like this doesn’t come around too often – you have to be excited by a challenge like this,” John Kiely told LeaderSport this week.

“I have huge respect for Kilkenny as a hurling county and for Brian Cody but on Saturday we want to put yourself first – it’s a huge challenge but one we relish.”

The bookies immediately reacted to the draw, by making Kilkenny the hot 1/3 favourites to advance - Limerick were listed at 11/4.

“The mood is good and everyone is very focused and anxious to produce a performance on Saturday,” said the Limerick manager.

”Training has gone well. We had to contend with the U-21 game but most counties had that and we were delighted that those lads won and also the U-25s - they were all positives. We feel as have a lot of work done and we are now looking for a performance to reflect that work,” he stressed.

Kiely accepted a repeat of the flat display against Clare won’t suffice.

”We made too many mistakes and they punished us severely. Our decision making with ball in hand was poor and we turned over too much possession – at this level you pay the penalty for errors. We felt we didn’t perform to the standard that we had hoped,” he said.