Delight for Kiely as players deliver when it matters
John Kiely was delighted to see his players regain the Munster SHC title from Cork on a wet and windy afternoon at Supervalu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
They Treaty City men were never ahead from the third minute until the final minute, but they found the scores when it mattered most to land a seventh title down south in eight years.
They'll have four weeks off now before they play either Clare, Dublin or Offaly in the semi-final at Croke Park.
Last year, extra time and penalties were needed to separate the sides, but Kiely was satisfied that his players had managed to do it this time around at the first time of asking.
"Exhausted, thank God it didn't go to extra-time," he said on RTÉ's Sunday Sport after the game.
"It was a hugely intense game, nothing between the two teams, with or against the breeze. I'm really proud of the effort the lads put in.
"I thought they were relentless in their effort. The shots didn't all get converted that we had, but we created enough of them.
"Regardless of your accuracy, if you create enough chances, you're going to give yourself a chance. We were at our most accurate when it mattered most in the closing stretch.
"Peter Casey topped up with a couple of great scores when it counted, he really did show great composure, great accuracy, great nerve.
"We've worked so, so hard for the last eight months. We've been here on nights and days when it hasn't gone for us.
"Today we had a massive opportunity and we grabbed it with both hands when it mattered most in that last seven minutes."
Both counties now head for the All-Ireland championship, with Cork set to face surprise package Offaly in two weeks' time.
The only way the sides could meet again is in the All-Ireland final, and Kiely paid tribute to the Rebels for their part in an epic tussle.
"Cork are just an incredibly talented bunch of players," he said.
"They've been in the last two All-Irelands, the last two Munster finals, and they put you to the pin of your collar every single day to try and beat them.
"You have to be absolutely at your best, so congrats to them on their performance. It wasn't enough today, but it was unbelievably tough out there."
John Kiely and Ben O'Connor at the full-time whistle
Kiely's counterpart, Cork boss Ben O’Connor, chose his words relatively carefully when he spoke to RTÉ Sport after the game, although his frustration with what he saw as a lopsided free-count between the sides was plain to see.
"Disappointed. A puck of a ball at the end of 70 minutes or 77 minutes was what it ended up being," O’Connor said.
"Looking back, when you're only beaten a point, you'll be watching every decision and every ball. I'm disappointed [with some of the calls], but I'm a Cork man, looking at it from a Cork point of view. It's for the neutral to go and have a look at it now and just see was the [free] count really double?
"Was it 22 to 10? So, look, I'm saying that it wasn't. There's a ball out down here – you can go back through them all. There's a ball down here on the sideline, didn't go out over the line. It was given as a line ball, ball cleared. I thought we were harshly treated in a few cases.
"We were punished for a lot of the dumb frees that went against us."
Having given up their Minster crown to the Treaty men, O’Connor and his Rebels will turn their attention to that clash with the Faithful County later this month.
"We're saying all the time, that this was one competition. This Munster competition," O’Connor said. "Now the real hurling starts. The pressure really comes on from now on. It's knockout from here on out.
"We'll learn a lot from it. Even to talk about it now, it's hard because you have to watch it back on television a couple times just to pick up everything that went on.
"I'm delighted with our lads in that they fought all the way and there was good fight there in tough conditions. We've Offaly in two weeks' time, we're going to get ready for that. That's the only one that we're looking at now.
"We've a different competition, the All-Ireland series, and we're starting out again."
