Limerick boss John Kiely insists side have moved on from New York brawl
JOHN KIELY insists his Limerick side have moved on from their New York brawl shame.
The Treaty were in the Big Apple for the Super 11s tournament last month.
But their trip turned sour when a video on social media emerged which showed one panellist involved in a fight on a New York street — while one of his team-mates filmed it.
Limerick issued a statement in the wake of the incident, confirming that two members of their squad had been sent home and a disciplinary process was underway.
But boss Kiely has refused to reveal if the unnamed pair have been dropped from the panel and insists the matter is now closed.
He said: “I think we made it clear at the time when we issued our statement that there wasn’t going to be any further comment on the matter. It is an internal matter.
“It is like any organisation I am sure, disciplinary matters in a newspaper or a radio station. You are not going to be going out and airing them in the public after.
“It is like all disciplinary matters — they are handled in-house. As far as we are concerned the matter is closed.
“We are back training since last Tuesday and 2019 has been concluded and we are looking forward to 2020 with great anticipation.
“I won’t be issuing any panel to the public for a number of weeks yet.
“We have a lot of new players who have come into the panel and we want to give them a chance to settle in.”
Kiely’s side were controversially beaten by Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-finals this year after they were wrongly denied a 65 in the final seconds against the Cats.
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In stoppage time of the 1-21 to 2-17 loss, Darragh O’Donovan’s sideline cut was blocked by Cillian Buckley but the umpires signalled wide.
Limerick’s protests fell on deaf ears and the final whistle blew on their Championship and bid for back-to-back All-Ireland titles.
Kiely admits the better team won on the day but feels using video replays in the future could prevent similar incidents.
However, he does not want to see the introduction of VAR like in the Premier League.
Instead, Kiely reckons it can all be done using video replays through the sideline official.
Limerick will need to pass a motion through annual congress for something like that to come into play — and their boss is all for it.
RULE CHANGES
He said: “If you have to put it into the rules you need a motion. If that is the correct route to go by, so be it.
“There is a huge amount at stake, be it in a Munster final or an All-Ireland semi-final or final. These games come down to such small margins.
“If we can ensure that everybody goes home knowing that the result is the correct result, and the right result, and that correct decisions were taken on the day by whatever means that is possible without interrupting the flow of the game . . .
“You don’t want to end up with a soccer VAR where people are walking off the field to look at a screen, nobody wants that.
“But if there was a mechanism by which we could make a call on the sideline to ask whoever is upstairs looking at these cameras and screens, who can see exactly what has happened and to slow it down to get the correct decision . . .
“If it takes 30 seconds, 40 seconds to do that through the fourth official, I think that is a fantastic idea and one that I think all management teams would be very supportive of, in terms of ensuring the correct decisions are found.
“There is a fairly wide acceptance that there is room for improvement in that area. And we are all very much willing to buy into anything that will improve the accuracy of what we are doing on match day.”
TEAM TO BEAT
Limerick were the team to beat after ending 45 years of heartbreak to win the All- Ireland title in 2018.
They backed that up with National League and Munster success in 2019 but fell short in their quest to retain the Liam MacCarthy.
Liam Sheedy’s Tipperary claimed Liam and the Premier are favourites to clinch back-to-back titles, something they have not been able to do since 1965.
Limerick face Tipp in round 1 of the Co-Op Superstores Munster hurling league on December 20 at the Gaelic Grounds and Kiely insists the All-Ireland champions will have a target on their backs.
He added: “At the moment the mind-set is we are keeping our heads down and working hard. Tipperary are the worthy All-Ireland champions. They were fantastic in the semi-final and the final.
“They are undisputed All-Ireland champions and that is the bottom line.
“They come back into this season, where we were this time 12 months ago.
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“They are going to have to know that is everybody is out there to challenge them in their bid to retain the title and that is the way it is and the way it should be.
“They are an experienced side, they have been through it before.
“But I think every team is looking forward to getting out there and put their best foot forward and try and be the best team they can be in 2020.”
JOHN KIELY was speaking at the launch of the 2020 Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League, which gets underway on December 15th when Tipperary host Clare in Nenagh.