John Kiely has thrown down the gauntlet to Cian Lynch to win his place back ahead of the All-Ireland final.
The reigning Hurler of the Year finally made his comeback appearance in Limerick’s semi-final win over Galway last Sunday, 10 weeks after sustaining a hamstring injury in the Munster Championship win over Waterford.
Peter Casey also made his return off the bench after the cruciate knee ligament injury that he picked up in last year’s All-Ireland final, with both players introduced in the final quarter.
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“We were delighted to see them come through, that’s the whole idea - we wouldn’t have played them bar we were confident,” said Limerick boss Kiely. “He (Lynch) had already done a nice bit of work so we were confident he would come through.
“He missed 10 weeks in the season - the rest of the guys have been pushing on with three sessions a week and five championship matches in the interim, so the team has moved on. He’s under no illusions about his need to win his place back on the team.”
The fact that Lynch only featured for little more than 15 minutes would suggest that reclaiming a starting berth in time for Sunday week’s decider is beyond him.
“I didn’t say that,” Kiely insisted. “We haven’t even considered what our starting 15 might be for the next day. We have three sessions to get through now and that’s going to reveal a group of players we feel are ready to start on the day.
“We chose maybe not to play him until that period of time, that’s not to say he couldn’t have come on before that.
“If we went to extra time would I have taken him off? No, absolutely not, he’d have continued on. He was fit, fit to play, and that’s how we chose to use him on the day.”
Limerick have no fresh injury worries to report ahead of the decider, as they bid for three-in-a-row.
“Hopefully it’ll stay that way for the next 10 days. The week before the last game was the first time we had everybody, really, on board.
“To be fair to the lads, they’ve done a great job getting the guys back on board.”
Following Sunday’s victory, Kiely and a number of his players rubbed shoulders with the golfing elite at the JP McManus Pro-Am in Adare on Monday, with the manager describing it as a “phenomenal event”.
“To see something like that happen here in Limerick and for JP and Noreen to make it happen is incredible, all those charities that are going to be benefit from the funds that were raised there is going to be a game-changer for places like Milford Care Centre, for Cuan Mhuire, a load of special schools around the city and county, it’s going to make a huge impact on thousands of people’s lives.
“It’s something that we’re delighted to support. We’re delighted to see it go so well for JP and Noreen as well.”
Team captain Declan Hannon, an Adare native, was also present.
He said: “The calibre of golfers there was amazing and to have it on our doorstep, you couldn't wish for anything better after Sunday winning the game and then being able to walk around and watch some of the best golfers in the world. It was pretty nice.
“We met a lot of them. We met Scottie Scheffler and Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and (Rory) McIlroy and (Shane) Lowry. Sure we might never see them again. We did our best to try to get a few photos with them anyway. It was great, great fun now.
“I walked around with my Mam and Dad for the majority of the day Monday, they'd a great time, they loved it.”
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