Limerick's 100% record in this year's Allianz National Hurling League campaign remains intact with manager John Kiely happy with where his players are at.
A 1-21 to 1-17 win over Waterford at the LIT Gaelic Grounds last night made it five out of five for the Treaty as they progress to the semi-finals.
Kiely was pleased at full-time but he is targetting improvements as they prepare for the knock-out stages.
"I'm happy with the performance.
"I still think there's a little bit of dead leg in us at the moment, we're after working really hard and at times fellas had to dig deep to find the energy to track runs.
"They [Waterford] carried the ball really well down the middle of the field.
"They've runners running off the shoulder left, right and centre. That takes huge energy and work rate to keep tracking those runs over and over again and we put in a huge amount of tackles out there tonight as well.
"We used the ball very well, created a lot of scoring chances, didn't take them all, a few times it broke down just because of a handling error or a poor touch, but for that we would have been a bit slicker and I think it was a good performance, I'm happy with it."
Since last night wasn't a must-win for the 2018 All-Ireland champions there was perhaps less of a bite and intensity to Limerick than usual in the last few years.
Kiely was asked about this after the game.
"Every day you go out, you try to be the best you can be, every player goes out to be the best they can be every single night and the team goes out to be the best team they can be every single night.
"Conditions weren't exactly ideal out there tonight either, fellas will drop a ball because of conditions, it was windy and it was wet.
"It's not perfect conditions and we have to be forgiving of the players in that circumstance.
"They're trying to do everything at such high speed, it doesn't come every time in poor conditions. I think the endeavor of both sides was very commendable tonight, I think both sides worked very hard."
In the tough winter conditions, Gearoid Hegarty was particularly impressive, scoring 1-5 from play.
Kiely was full of praise forthe 25-year-old St. Patrick's clubman.
"He was slow getting going today.
"I think his first 15 or 20 minutes he struggled to get on the ball.
"He worked his way into the game though, that's a sign of his experience - a bit of patience, a bit of savvy to find himself in the right position and get the rhythm going and not to panic.
"He had a fantastic game there's no doubt about that, one of his scores down the sideline was mesmerising.
"He's in great form at the moment, he's working really hard, like the rest of the group."
Reigning league champions Limerick now have two weeks to prepare for their semi-final as they look to retain their title.
Kiely is pleased to have the break as they go about their preparations.
"It gives you a little bit more scope in terms of managing the load. We're looking forward to the two weeks now and getting ready for the semi-final."
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