John Kiely has endorsed the current provincial championship format. The Limerick manager, who is preparing for Saturday week’s final against Cork, was speaking at an online media briefing, organised by Munster GAA.
Asked for his views on his Waterford counterpart, Peter Queally’s call for the season to be extended on the lines of the football championship, Kiely sympathised but said that any more permissive a structure would “diminish the importance” of provincial fixtures.
In six years of the format, Waterford have yet to emerge from the round-robin despite having been All-Ireland finalists and semi-finalists during the two years of Covid when the format was suspended.
“It is tough, they haven’t come out yet. They’ve made great progress this year; Peter has done really, really well. I suppose you just have to keep going back and eventually you’ll get the breakthrough.
“Look at Tipperary last year – where they were at the bottom of the group and this year, they’ve turned it around and have five points on the board. There were three teams tied with five points and it was only scoring difference that separated them at the top of the group so it can be done.
“Do I think putting four teams out [for the All-Ireland series] is going to improve it? I don’t. I think it will actually diminish the importance of the games. There’s great jeopardy there.
“It is tough but it’s a good tough. When you love sport, you want to be involved in a competition that has incredible standards, incredible competition and real jeopardy. That’s what the Munster championship has and that’s why it’s so special and that’s why the crowds are turning out so we have to embrace the jeopardy as well as the desire to get out.”
He said that his team, who are chasing an extended record of seven titles in a row, is at full strength but he cautioned on the potential impact of injuries when asked had he any concerns.
“No, not at the minute. We’ve had a really strong run the last couple of months and everybody’s training at the moment. A few knocks after the Cork game, a few fellas had to step out for a week but they’re all back since Wednesday night.
“We’ve got a session tomorrow [Saturday] morning, Tuesday night, Thursday night, so we’ve a bit of work to get through yet. In 2018 on the Friday night before the All-Ireland, Peter Casey just turned his ankle on a sliotar that was coming out from the goals.
“It was a non-contact session, if you like, for the most part. How could anyone get injured? When you’re out in the field, anything can happen and so we have three sessions still to get through. Hopefully we get there with a full complement.”
He also called for the Munster GAA to make it “visibly clear to everybody” where the additional revenue from this year’s raised ticket prices had gone.
“Supporters are never going to be happy with a price rise. It’s a big commitment to be a supporter in the first place. They’re going to league matches; they’re going to all the championship matches. There’s a lot of those matches in a short period of time.
“People are looking towards summer holidays, kids going away on summer camps, all those types of things.
“If the season were more stretched out, the expense is spread out as well with it, and that’s maybe something that needs to be taken into consideration, that it’s a big hit for families all at the one time.
“I think people haven’t been giving out tickets too much. I think it’s more about getting your hands on what is the biggest problem at the moment. I think we’re going to have a fantastic occasion here.
“I think the onus really goes back on the Munster council now. Ultimately, they’re the ones who are gathering this additional revenue, and I think maybe in the course of the next 12 months, they need to make it visibly clear to everybody what the additional revenues went towards.
“I think that would be something that would be very much appreciated by the paying public, to know that that money is being put to very good use right across the association.”
