Billy Lee was typically pragmatic and cut to the quick having watched his Limerick side ship a record beating from Kerry on Saturday.
Indeed, there was a whiff of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Try Again. Fail Again. Fail better.’ mantra to his post-match comments after Limerick were on the receiving end of a 23-point defeat which matched the biggest ever in a Munster final, Kerry’s 6-11 to 2-0 victory over Clare 103 years ago.
“We won’t sugar coat it,” said Lee. “We will take it on the chin. We are not in the business of hiding from what happened out there and there is no point. We are not going to justify that we did this, that or the other.
“We have a lot to learn when we come up against teams like Kerry and that at the top end of Division One. We know that and we know we have work to do before we face into Division Two. With all due respect, we don’t need anybody to tell us that. I am backing these guys to the hilt.
“In 2018 when we weren’t even competitive in Division Four these lads spent the summer working hard behind the scenes. Nobody knew. That was just to try and be competitive in Division Four and then they went back at it again in 2019.
“Great faith in these guys, back them to the hilt. We are very proud of them. We will take it on the chin and we have to take it on the chin if we want to find improvement going forward and that’s our job as a management team to strive to find that improvement.
“We will set about trying to find that improvement. How far there is for improvement I don’t really know. We won’t shy away from the work.”
While Kerry were never in danger at any stage given that the Limerick attack posed virtually no threat for most of the afternoon, it was only in the five minutes or so approaching half-time, when they kicked 0-5 without reply to take a 0-12 to 0-3 lead to the dressing room, that they put the game to bed.
A further 0-6 was added on the resumption and though Limerick joint-captain Iain Corbett kicked his second point of the day to stem the tide, Killian Spillane quickly replied to cap a fine personal performance with the game’s only goal in 48th minute.
Corbett’s fellow half-back Cian Sheehan kicked 0-3 in the last 20 minutes, with his score from the game’s last kick sparing Limerick the outright record. That the bulk of their scores came from the defence underlines just how much their attack struggled, with none of the starting front six managing a score from play.
Not only did the Kerry rearguard comfortably keep tabs on their men, they chipped in with 0-6 too, with Tom O’Sullivan accounting for half of that tally.
“Yeah look, I'm more concerned, more anxious that the inside forwards score,” said Kerry boss Jack O’Connor. “When backs go up to score, it's a bonus.
“Killian Spillane scored 1-3, I'd say (Paul) Geaney scored four, Tony (Brosnan) scored three. So you want your finishers getting scores because it's all about confidence. They were other fellas contributing then out the field. Good spread of scorers.”
And all without a certain David Clifford, who O’Connor said will be back from injury in plenty of time for the All-Ireland quarter-final on June 24/25, a game that is a bit too far down the track for his liking.
“Of course four weeks is an issue and that’s why the system next year is going to be fairer for everybody.
“I’m not too concerned about the game today but I am relatively concerned about having four weeks off.
“I’ve gone on record as saying that we’ve played eight games in 10 weeks in the League and we’re playing three games in 12 weeks in the Championship and sure that can’t be right.”
KERRY: Shane Ryan 7; Tom O’Sullivan (0-3) 8, Jason Foley 7, Graham O’Sullivan 7; Brian O Beaglaoich (0-2) 8, Tadhg Morley 7, Gavin White (0-1) 7; Diarmuid O’Connor 7, Jack Barry 8; Paudie Clifford (0-2) 8, Sean O’Shea (0-6, 0-1f, 0-1 ‘45’) 7, Stephen O’Brien (0-1) 6; Killian Spillane (1-3) 8,Paul Geaney (0-4, 0-1m) 7, Tony Brosnan (0-3) 7.
Subs: Adrian Spillane (0-1) for O’Brien (51), Dylan Casey for Foley (51), David Moran for O’Connor (52), Micheal Burns (0-2) for Killian Spillane (53), Paul Murphy for Morley (56), Gavin Crowley for O Beaglaoich (BS, 57).
LIMERICK: Donal O’Sullivan 6; Michael Donovan 6, Brian Fanning 6, Sean O’Dea 6; Cian Sheehan (0-3) 8, Iain Corbett (0-2) 8, Adrian Enright 7; Darragh Treacy 6, Cillian Fahy 6; Paul Maher 6, Brian Donovan 6, James Naughton 6; Peter Nash 5, Josh Ryan (0-2, 0-1f, 0-1 ‘45’) 6, Hugh Bourke 5.
Subs: Robbie Bourke for Ryan (HT), Gordon Brown (0-1) for Maher (47), Tommy Griffin for Enright (47), Colm McSweeney for Nash (47), Robert Childs for Fanning (61).
REFEREE: Martin McNally (Monaghan).
QUOTE ME ON THAT
“Not interested in that. It is bollix, not interested in it. We have got to look at ourselves today. To me taking would be defecting from Kerry.”
Limerick manager Billy Lee on the wisdom of Congress not backing ‘Option B’ after another lopsided provincial final.
STAR MAN - Killian Spillane (Kerry)
Top scorer from play with 1-3 but, notably, the bulk of those scores came when Kerry were struggling to establish daylight between themselves and Limerick. Could be a breakthrough performance for Spillane.
AN OTHER - Cian Sheehan (Limerick)
His perseverance, along with Iain Corbett’s, could only be applauded as he kicked 0-3 from wing-back on a team being beaten out the gate, with none of his forward colleagues managing a score from play.
UP NEXT
KERRY: June 24/25 All-Ireland quarter-final
LIMERICK: June 11/12 Round Two qualifier
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