John Kiely has called on the GAA to waive its decision to ban teams from promoting charities on their jerseys for the Dillon Quirke Foundation.
Limerick and Tipperary had agreed to wear special jerseys bearing the Foundation's logo for their Munster Championship clash at Semple Stadium on 21 May in memory of the Premier hurler who tragically died while playing at the same venue last August.
The Foundation has already raised hundreds of thousands of euro to be put towards screening every GAA player from the age of 12 upwards for sudden adult death syndrome.
Limerick manager Kiely revealed the idea first arose last year, with the jerseys worn during the match to be auctioned as a fundraiser, until the GAA announced its ban in the past fortnight.
"Firstly, I met Dan Quirke [Dillon’s father] last November. We discussed doing something. We were all very much of the mind that we would like to help in whatever way we could, make a contribution in whatever way we could to the Foundation.
"This concept was put forward that the Foundation emblem would be put on the jersey for that one game between ourselves and Tipperary. We had agreed to do that. We were very happy to do that. And that afterwards the jerseys would be handed back to the Foundation for them to auction – that was the concept.
"Clearly, it has run into a difficulty now, because of the particular rule it might be in breach of. That’s disappointing.
"We’d still be very much open to finding a way of helping the Foundation acknowledge what they are trying to do, and honour Dillon’s passion and his life, which was hurling.
"I feel his situation is that little bit unique in that he died playing the game that he loved, on one of the most hallowed surfaces of all in Semple Stadium.
"I think his situation is different to wider charitable causes. I think there is a distinct difference here.
"A player, playing for his club, who is a county player, who died whilst on the surface in Semple Stadium. For me, that makes it different.
"And maybe a reason to examine the situation and see if there is a way for us to find something that will work for both Tipperary and ourselves. And for the Foundation most of all.
"We’re very much open to finding some solution to that particular difficulty. If we can help in any way, we will. We will be open to that."
Kiely also raised the GAA’s decision to publicise all team announcements on the Friday morning before the following weekend’s games.
He said a 10am team release was what had been communicated to Limerick, which would interfere with Kiely’s Friday evening session with his players.
"This is a bigger issue than I think people realise. It probably goes back to the 26-man panels of the Covid years, it’s that significant an issue from a player welfare perspective.
"If your team is out on a Sunday and you’re out on a Friday, we feel very strongly that the players should hear from the management before the team is announced to the wider public and the wider media.
"You have to understand that this isn’t going to be just for the first round of the championship, it’s going to be for an All-Ireland final and some difficult decisions will have to be made around team selections and panel selections.
"For a player that doesn’t make it onto a matchday team or the matchday 26, it’s going to be a significant disappointment in his life, for his season, and I think it’s really important that we have the opportunity to lead that internally within our groups in every county.
"It’s irrelevant whoever is in the championship match or whatever game it is in the championship, I think the management teams have a duty of care to the players in that regard.
"No player should wake up on a Friday morning to hear it on the radio.
"They deserve the respect of being informed by management before they are informed by media or otherwise what the team or panel is for the upcoming game."
Kiely suggested that teams would choose to list their players alphabetically from no.1 to no.26 rather than have their line-ups announced before their final training session.
"What’s going to happen is the teams that are going to be submitted are quite simply going to be just the panelists.
"It’s a disservice to those who purchase a programme on the day, I think they deserve to know within reason what the team is going to be, that there might be one or two changes but there’s not going to be 12 or 15 changes to the team that’s going to be put out.
"Teams might be inclined to name their team according to alphabetical order and you might have a corner-back wearing no.15 and a corner-forward wearing no.4.
"That will put us in a far worse position than we were before the situation was addressed in the first place."
Still, Kiely agrees with the proposal of a uniform team announcement time for all counties out of respect to GAA supporters and the media. He proposed a compromise time of Friday evening.
"What I would be suggesting is that a watershed of 9pm be used, 8pm or 9pm on a Friday.
"Nobody is going to be training on a Saturday if you’re playing on a Sunday. If you’re playing on a Saturday, you’re probably training on the Thursday so the Friday wouldn’t be an issue to you at all.
"In order to ensure the player is front and centre around team selections and team management, which is the most important aspect of it, I’m asking them to reconsider the time and delay it until later on that evening. I think everybody would be happy with that."
On William O’Donoghue’s suspension for Sunday’s League final against Kilkenny, Kiely said Limerick won’t taking up their option of an appeal.
"The incident itself, listen, it came about because the referee was waiting for the players to get back behind the 50. The players were in the middle of the pitch for quite some time.
"It was what it was. We’ve accepted it, William has accepted, and we’ve moved on."
When asked if provocation played a role, Kiely said: "It’s not for me to do that. The situation was assessed by the CCCC retrospectively. I’m sure they examined whether there was any causal or provocation by the opposition player. Clearly, they determined that there wasn’t. We have to accept that."
Limerick will also be without David Reidy and Graeme Mulcahy as they continue their comebacks to action.
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