‘Some of the guys will be disappointed with their performance, maybe that will light their fire’ – Limerick boss John Kiely

Limerick will require improvement and greater discipline to build on their opening day win over Clare in Ennis, manager John Kiely has stressed.

The All-Ireland champions came from nine points down after 53 minutes to hit three goals in a seven-minute spell and keep their ‘drive for five’ on track.

But Kiely knew how close they came to being backed into a corner ahead of Tipperary’s visit to the Gaelic Grounds next week as they struggled to find momentum.

“We got the goal and at that point you could say, ‘listen, there’s a chance here’. We just needed to seize the moment,” said Kiely.

“I think the players felt that as well and they grabbed it. Our last quarter in the league this season was our poorest quarter. For it to be our strongest quarter today is just fantastic for us to take out of the game.

“We had a lot of players who were out injured during the spring and didn’t have a lot of game time. And it was a tough game for them to come in and try and hit a high marker of a performance.

“Some of the guys will be disappointed with their performance but who knows, maybe that will light their fire to go back and train hard this week and come back next week better players.

“We have to be more accurate in our shooting,” added. “We have to give away an awful lot less frees. Our free count (20 against) today was very high, that wasn’t Colm Lyons'(referee) fault, that was our fault, that’s on us.

“So we have to tidy up our tackling, our discipline and give away less chances in our half of the field.”

It was Limerick’s first win in Ennis in a championship game since 1990 and the first at the venue in the current era.

But Kiely was adamant that their struggle for rhythm in their opening game had nothing to do with the pressure of the pursuit of five.

“Believe me, your perception of what this season is about, and ours, are two totally different things,” he said.

“When you’re coming to Ennis, you’re not thinking of anything else. I can tell you for our first home game at the Gaelic Grounds this year (against Tipperary), we’ll be thinking of nothing else for the rest of this week either.”

“When you come to Ennis and you get a win, you understand that that’s a real achievement in itself. But ultimately, it’s only two points in the course of this competition. We know we’re going to need five plus points to get out of the group.”

Limerick will have the suspended Peter Casey available next week but Kiely confirmed that Diarmuid O’Donovan will still be out with injury.

Meanwhile, Clare manager Brian Lohan described the concession of the three goals as “shocking from our perspective.”

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