John Kiely took plenty of satisfaction from Limerick's performance against Waterford as the reigning All-Ireland champions bounced back from their defeat to Cork in style.
Defeat would have meant the end of what could be a historic season but a 10-point win means Limerick are into the Munster hurling final, where they will face Clare (for the third consecutive season) with the aim of making it an unprecedented six provincial triumphs in a row.
Kiely's side generally kept Waterford at arm's length at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday, coming out on top with a 0-30 to 2-14 victory.
"It was down to a two-point game maybe ten minutes into the second half and with that breeze that was there, that was a real challenge for us.
"To be fair, Waterford sent a substantial number of balls down deep into our defence from puckout, or second ball off puckout, and it takes a great resilience to deal with that, especially off the back of our performance the last day on those.
"So really, really thrilled with that and the resilience that's been shown by the group. I think the way they've bounced back in the last two weeks is something that I'm extremely proud of."
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Kiely saw Limerick's 19 wides as an area to tidy up, reasoning that his team "didn't help ourselves at times" by shooting from too far out and "didn't play to the elements" in taking on difficult shots in wet and blustery conditions.
Most impressive in his matchday panel was Player of the Match Cathal O'Neill, who echoed his manager's view about the wind making things tricky for themselves.
"It was seriously tough there," said the midfielder.
"I think [Waterford] got us back to two or three there around 50 minutes and against those elements it's really tough but we battled through and thank god we had that trust in each other to keep going and keep going. It paid off thankfully."
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