BOARD MADE RIGHT CALL

Kiely expected sack...now he's targetting 7-in-a-row

- BY KARL O'KANE

JOHN KIELY was waiting for a phone call at the end of the 2017 season that never came.

It was his first year as Limerick boss and on the surface it hadn't exactly gone to plan, with a first round qualifier exit at the hands of Kilkenny after a Munster semi-final defeat by Clare.

Two Championship games. Two defeats.

But Kiely felt his side were making progress and thankfully for Limerick, the County Board held firm. Just over 12 months later they had won their first All-Ireland title in 45 years.

Speaking ahead of Limerick's bid for a record Munster seven-in-a-row - they already hold the record with six - Kiely recalled the end of the 2017 season.

"All I saw coming was a phone call to say, 'thanks very much,'" he laughed.

"I spent four months waiting for the call. So either my phone wasn't working or somebody had the wrong number.

"We knew we had made improvements. Of course we did. The impact of the coaching had definitely begun to embed.

"But on reflection now you'd have to say that to get a team to a level of performance takes time and for people to get to know each other, to understand each other's strengths and weaknesses.

"We now have a great appreciation of how long that actually takes because a season's quite short and obviously it's gotten shorter."

Kiely believes three events were key to Limerick's emergence as a side that would go on to win five All-Ireland titles in seven years and just miss out on a famous five-in-a-row.