By Mal Keaveney
UNDER strict regulations drawn up for this truncated championship, only 26 players and a reduced backroom team were allowed attend on match day.
Inclusive of backroom personnel, Limerick’s set-up would number around 50, and the surplus were in a kinda human cruelty fashion left at home for the outings to date against Clare, Tipperary, Waterford and Galway.
Limerick manager John Kiely is pleased that this ‘wrong’ has been righted for the All-Ireland Final.
In Kiely’s eyes, coach driver Kevin Griffin is equally as important as two-time All-Star Seán Finn.
Always a useful player in his own right – he played both senior football (who he captained) and hurling (Munster medallist in 1994) with the county – it will, however, be for his excellent managerial skills that Kiely will enrich the GAA history books in times to come.
It was a self-referral (to current Munster and then Limerick Chairman Billy Lenihan) ten years ago that saw Kiely step onto the managerial ladder.
Initially he spent time with the county intermediate and under-21s.
Kiely landed the plumb job in the Autumn of 2016, and what has followed for success-starved Limerick supporters has been nothing short of magical.
Kiely is fortunate to have a superb backroom setup in the likes of 2013 Munster winning captain Donal O’Grady, Alan Cunningham, Paul Kinnerk (coach), Timmy Houlihan, Mikey Kiely and Aonghus O’Brien. Others, such as Liaison Officer Éibhear O’Dea, Dr. James Ryan, Kit Manager Ger O’Connell and Physio Mark Melbourne, are also key components in a well-oiled machine.
Ireland’s leading performance psychologist Caroline Currid is also back with Limerick for 2020.
Limerick want for nothing under the sponsorship of the McManus Family, Martinstown.
In Waterford, after two forgetful seasons rookie manager Liam Cahilll – a double All-Ireland winning Tipperary player – has most certainly turned around the county’s fortunes in next to no time.
Read our All Ireland Final Preview here …
