Limerick manager John Kiely said that their Allianz Hurling League win over Tipperary in Cork felt like a defeat due to the concession of three goals.
The game, played at Supervalu Páirc Uí Chaoimh as the TUS Gaelic Grounds pitch wasn't able to stage it, saw the Treaty County produce a fine second-half performance with Jason Forde’s last-play goal bringing the winning margin down to a single score, 0-26 to 3-16.
You have to go back to 2017 for the last time Limerick conceded three goals in a league game – Kerry and Offaly managing it in consecutive rounds – and it clearly irked their manager.
"Very disappointed to have conceded three goals in the manner in which we did," Kiely told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
"That was a sucker-punch to be honest with you and almost makes the game feel like a loss in many respects.
"That’s just not us, we don’t make those mistakes. It’s something for us to go back and learn from in the week going ahead.
"Of all the sides going [Tipperary], you don’t gift up possession in that manner, in that part of the pitch, because they will punish you like they did tonight."
That’s not to say that Kiely wasn’t happy with the result and the performance of the likes of Cian Lynch, Peter Casey and Aaron Gillane who were making their first starts of the season.
"As the game went on, I think we improved as we went along.
"A couple of lads' first game back, Peter, Aaron and Cian in particular, you could see the continuous improvement in terms of quality of what we were trying to do.
"That was the most pleasing part of it."
Another pleasing aspect for the manager would have been the performance of young full-forward Donnacha Ó Dálaigh who helped himself to three points from play, some of those of the highest quality.
Cian Lynch and Donnacha O Dalaigh reflect on Limerick's Allianz Hurling League defeat of Tipperary #RTEgaa pic.twitter.com/TOYubPoaNS
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) March 9, 2024
The Monaleen man featured in last year’s league but is still to make his championship debut – something sure to change if he continues to perform like he did in Cork.
"It’s a pleasure to play with these boys here on a night like tonight in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in front of a good crowd down here," the attacker said after the game.
"Scores were obviously hard to come by in the first half but once we got our game going and we got hands on ball, we started making better decisions on the ball.
"We pushed on there."
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