With the Limerick players back in their dressing room, joined by the Liam MacCarthy Cup for the first time since 2023, the cheers were audible from the media interview room.
This is not just another win, a sixth since 2018, but having suffered the agony of their 2024 semi-final defeat ended their ‘drive for five’ hopes, plus last year’s ignominious quarter-final exit at the hands of 14-man Dublin, there was an obvious sense this one meant a little bit more.
Success had been the only currency they knew and when it was taken away, it left a huge hole and a lot of hurt.
That was washed away with a dominant display as they reproduced their calling card: a display of precision, power and absolute ruthless efficiency to seal title number 13 in the county’s history.
As manager John Kiely emerged from a jubilant dressing room, his overriding emotion was “great satisfaction, a shared sense of joy”.
“I was part of 1994 and 1996 [finals Limerick lost] and the hurt never leaves you, scars you. Those days never go away, so just sheer joy [today],” he said.
“You want to see the team achieve their potential and I just felt the last two years, we left a bit of ourselves after us and just didn’t produce the quality in those key moments to get over the line.
“We were up against great opposition today and they will come again, but look at Clare, Cork, Tipperary and Waterford brought great challenges in their own right in the Munster Championship, so it’s always difficult.
“That [final score] may have shown a margin between the teams but it’s one we earned by sheer application and quality we earned, the intensity we brought to the game and we were relentless. When we got chances, we took them.”
