John Kiely insists Limerick have been improving every week and that he was never concerned about their results, despite having to wait until today to record a first win of the season.
That victory, following a draw against Tipp and defeats to Galway and Waterford, came in style, in the shape of a 0-33 to 2-19 dismissal of Cork at the Gaelic Grounds.
"It takes a bit of time. It's as simple as that," Kiely told RTÉ Sport.
"We have tremendous faith in this group of players. We know what they’re capable of. We just have to be patient and give them the chance to get the work done.
"I thought we showed great energy, as much off the ball as on the ball. We were sharper and you could see the couple of weeks work in us. Greater cohesion amongst the players as a group.
"We have seen incremental improvement week from week from the very start. Okay, it wasn't enough for us to get results up to now, but we’re getting there slowly and we just have to keep our shoulder to the wheel and move forward now over the next couple of weeks.
"There are still loads of things to go after. There were still a few occasions we wouldn't have been altogether happy with.
"Being late into the tackle and we gave away a couple of chances. Our shot selection at times, but that’s something we can work on."
With a championship rematch against the same opponents just over a month away, Kiely will be sweating on the fitness of All-Star corner-back Sean Finn, who was forced off with a hamstring injury.
"It’s about looking after the bodies as much as anything else now over the next couple of weeks.
"We’re still picking up those odd few knocks as we’re going along."
Man of the match Diarmaid Byrnes believes Limerick are starting to hit their stride after recording a first win of the season against Cork #GAA #AllianzLeagues pic.twitter.com/MWqOwdVz0n
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 5, 2021
Kieran Kingston admitted his young team - only Damien Cahalane was older than 24 of the starting XV - had been overwhelmed in the opening period but was happier with their performance in the second half
"We knew coming in it was going to be a difficult game, we saw that in particular in the first 25 minutes," he said.
"We were totally outplayed, and in many ways lucky to be only 10 points down at half time.
"We regrouped and made a few changes, and I was proud of the way the lads reacted in the second half, playing into the breeze.
"Basically, we said 'Let's try and win the second half’. We succeeded in doing that and showed a good attitude. We got it down to seven points but never really looked like kicking on from there.
Kingston said Cork had changed their formation in response to a disastrous return from their puckout early on, which he felt was due to players "crowding areas we shouldn’t have been" and "not working it out the way we had agreed."
"But we had a lot of young guys there today and they’ll learn a lot from playing the All-Ireland champions at home."
Watch highlights of all the weekend's hurling action on League Sunday, RTÉ2, 9.30pm
