John Kiely made no attempt to hide his disappointment after Limerick’s surprise Allianz Hurling League semi-final defeat to Kilkenny.

The five-in-a-row chasing All-Ireland champions turned in arguably their poorest performance under Kiely in a 1-15 to 3-17 loss at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday.

“Our performance today was embarrassing at times,” the Limerick manager told reporters.

“This is not us exiting the League on our terms. This is us being kicked out of the league on Kilkenny’s terms. That’s the facts of the matter. I don’t think we have played as bad as that (before) to be honest with you. It’s probably 2017 being honest about it. That’s from an internal perspective.

“We have to give cognisance that Kilkenny came with intent and plan, executed very well, their ball-handling skills were good. They were good in the air. They took their chances when they came whereas we were the polar opposite.

“We were poor on the ball, we were poor in defence, we were poor at the things we’re usually pride ourselves in terms of our intensity and our work-rate, use of the ball, efficiency, all of the things we would pride ourselves on we were poor.

“I can assure you we’re not happy to be out of the league. It’s not part of any grand plan I can assure you.”

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