An ominous forerunner to the Championship as Limerick, despite a number of handicaps, cruised to yet another title.
Indeed, some of those handicaps were of their own creation and others could, and would, have been averted on a bigger day.
They were extremely wasteful by any standards, finishing with 20 wides, 15 of them in the second half, with another point effort dropped short.
Two-thirds of their half-back line, captain Declan Hannon and Kyle Hayes, didn’t play. But you’d imagine they would have if it was the climax to the Championship rather than the League.
“Declan just has the flu and he's had it all week,” manager John Kiely explained afterwards.
“He'll be fine next week and back in training. Kyle just got a minor strain on Tuesday night that didn't respond well earlier in the week, he could have played today but obviously that wouldn't be a wise decision.”
Bar Aaron Gillane and Seamus Flanagan, none of their forwards could claim to have played particularly well and, into the second half, Mike Casey was forced off with a HIA, but Limerick were moving out of sight by then.
They had started sluggishly as Kilkenny matched into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead and the All-Ireland champions only registered their first score from their fourth effort at the posts, a Gillane free in the 10th minute, and it was a further six minutes before they hit their first from play, a huge point from Flanagan.
They settled from there, however, and Barry Nash’s goal in the 18th minute put them in front for the first and last time as it proved.
It came from a long Flanagan delivery which Gillane spectacularly fielded and though his handpass to Nash was somewhat wayward, the marauding corner-back leaned on his attacking instincts to slot firmly past Eoin Murphy.
Kilkenny stayed within a score until the half-hour mark but with Limerick stretching their legs, distance was established on the scoreboard approaching half-time with Darragh O’Donovan, Cathal O’Neill and Gillane slotting the last three points of the half for a 1-13 to 0-10 lead.
They pushed it out to eight on the restart and though Kilkenny responded with three on the spin and forced smart saves in quick succession from Nickie Quaid through Martin Keoghan and Billy Ryan, they were soon blown away.
A sweet delivery from Cian Lynch found Seamus Flanagan and Gillane whipped to the net first-time from his handpass in the 54th minute. Flanagan could have added another shortly afterwards but his shot flew over the bar.
By now, Limerick were in the midst of a flurry of wides which Kilkenny could be thankful for, many of them coming down the stretch as they scored just a single point from the 56th minute on.
The contest very much lost its edge in the last quarter as both teams emptied the bench; Kilkenny in a forlorn attempt to get some sort of foothold in the contest, Limerick to give a run to fringe players ahead of a Championship which gets underway for them on Sunday week and which they are now near unbackable favourites to win.
TJ Reid returned to the matchday squad for the first time since last year’s All-Ireland final though there was no point in manager Derek Lyng pitching in his most celebrated player in those circumstances.
Restoring him to full fitness and form will go some way to closing the gap that was apparent in front of the 17,243 at Pairc Ui Chaoimh but, on paper at least, Limerick’s returning contingent offer them more.
The victory delivered their 11th major title since the breakthrough All-Ireland success in 2018. You’d have wind all the way back to the 1973 All-Ireland for their previous 11 titles prior to ‘18.
“We’re moving a little bit better than we were this time last year,” Kiely deadpanned.
“This time last year there was no question answered really as such. It was only subsequently that we managed to pull it together and get it right. But every year is different and I’ve always pointed this out. No two seasons are the same. They all bring their own story.
“We just felt this year that this was right for us because we had a lot of players finished their Championship early and it felt good to us to go back training in December and get some work done at that time.
“Obviously the players had an appetite for it. I think we managed it very well the way we worked it with the players who were playing with clubs that went on a bit longer in the season and hence we’ve managed to maintain a good freshness in the group. I think that’s reflected in our performances.
“If you asked me where I wanted to be right now at this stage of the season, we’re there. The next question is, where do we want to be in two weeks time?”
Waterford have a mammoth task to stop them getting there.
LIMERICK: Nickie QUAID 7; Sean FINN 7, Mike CASEY 7, Barry NASH (1-1) 8; Diarmaid BYRNES (0-5, 0-3f) 8, Dan MORRISSEY 7, Colin COUGHLAN (0-1) 7; Darragh O’DONOVAN (0-2) 8, Barry MURPHY 5; Gearoid HEGARTY 6, Cian LYNCH 7, Cathal O’NEILL (0-1) 6; Aaron GILLANE (1-7, 0-5f) 8, Seamus FLANAGAN (0-3) 8, Peter CASEY 6.
Subs: Tom Morrissey for Murphy (HT), Richie English for Mike Casey (HIA, 48), Conor Boylan for Lynch (58), Donnacha O Dalaigh for Flanagan (63), Shane O’Brien for Peter Casey (67), Mark Quinlan for Byrnes (70+1).
KILKENNY: Eoin MURPHY 6; Mikey BUTLER 7, Tommy WALSH 6, Padraig WALSH 6; Huw LAWLOR (0-1) 6, Richie REID (0-2) 7, David BLANCHFIELD 7; Conor FOGARTY 5, Billy RYAN 5; John DONNELLY 5, Adrian MULLEN (0-3) 8, Paddy DEEGAN (0-2) 7; Billy DRENNAN (0-5f) 6, Eoin CODY (0-2, 0-1f) 6, Martin KEOGHAN 5.
Subs: Cian Kenny for Donnelly (HT), Paddy Mullen for Fogarty (47), Timmy Clifford for Mullen (53), Alan Murphy for Ryan (56), Gearoid Dunne for Drennan (56).
REFEREE: Paud O’Dwyer (Carlow).
