There was only about 30k there with ten minutes to go
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Drinking is for after gamesâŚid a coffee and a boost bar in my seat at 2.30 and it was the finest.
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Did they pump noise in through the speakers for the parade?
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Oooooooooooooft
I was one of them anyway. I even stayed for the presentation pal
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Fair play.
Itâs still hard to take in. Coming out of Nowlan Park in 2017 if someone had said weâd win 3 of the next 4 All-Irelandâs youâd have been carted off by the men in white coats.
Itâs five mins ago we were being beaten by desperately poor Offaly teams in qualifiers in 2003 and 2008. Struggling to beat Kerry and Westmeath in qualifiers. Tipp in 2009 in the semi final, the nadir. The semi final defeats in 2013 and 2014. Countless hammering from Cork, Tipp, Kilkenny and everyone else. Nowhere near winning a provinicial title, never mind All-Irelandâs.
Just blessed to be living through this era. Because this is as good as itâll ever get for Limerick. Weâll never get a group of players like this collectively together again. The likes of Quaid, Finn, Hannon, Hayes and Lynch are some of our greatest ever players.
Cork will eventually return to the summit. Theyâve sorted out their underage and by sheer weight of numbers and history, tradition theyâll be back sooner or later.
Kingston is a decent guy but it was a crazy set up yesterday. The full backline was getting eaten alive and they all re-emerged for the second half. Downey was roasted by Billy Ryan when it went in low, Kilkenny made a hero of him by chucking it in high in the second half and extra time. Heâs just very cumbersome and not the most agile, he was brutally exposed yesterday.
Even the half back line yesterday. Coleman hasnât much of a physical presence while Cadogan is on the verge of retirement. There didnât seem to be much of a plan. Manic, unrelenting work rate is the minimum requirement to beat this Limerick team and Cork came nowhere near that. Waterford brought it for 20 minutes in the semi final.
When a team wins back to back the talk is always that this team will dominate for years. It rarely works out like that, bar Kilkenny under Cody or the Dubs under Gavin.
At half time in the Munster final was anyone saying this team was unbeatable?
Clearly the best team at the moment but the panel will evolve. If Kiely and Kinnerk step away theyâll be impossible to replace. Currid wasnât there in 2019 and look what happened. Not giving the poor mouth but it wouldnât take a huge drop off to slip back towards the pack.
Limerick have emerged at a good time. Itâs the weakest Kilkenny team in 20 years. Some of the Tipp âhall of famersâ are nearing the end and theyâll need rebuilding. Cork still a few players short while Harnedy and Horgan are getting on. Waterford are the second best team in the country but if Cahill goes⌠the rest look a good bit off it.
If Limerick went into next year without Kiely, Kinnerk, Currid, Quaid and Mul - as could possibly happen but hopefully wonât - it would lead to a huge levelling off and offer a fair bit of hope to everyone else.
Everything is in place there at the moment. The management, players, attitude around the squad to pick off another one or two but every empire tumbles eventually.
Just going to enjoy this team for as long as possible. Blink and weâll be back to the bad days.
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Appeared much closer to that figure managed to get tickets than the official 40,000 i thought.
Yeah youâre dead right to savour it. A great thing from a Limerick perspective is that even if Limerick do go back to having a few bad years, even decades (donât think it will happen but could) this team will always have an everlasting legacy. This is truly one of the greatest hurling teams of all time.
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John Kiely must be an incredible man and very good at time management to handle two pressurised roles like school principal of an all-boys secondary school and Limerick senior hurling manager. Neither an easy task on their own.
Imagine Davy doing both at once.
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Out of interest, who would be the likely options to replace Kiely if/when he steps away.
Hard to know. Iâd guess for continuity theyâd look for an internal appointment, someone with knowledge and experience of the set-up, but how do you replace someone like Kinnerk. Pretty much everyone is a downgrade.
Not sure Quilty, Cunningham or co would have an interest. Itâs a great job when you are winning but Iâd imagine intercounty management is a very lonely place when results arenât going your way and youâre copping loads of flak. Stressful too Iâd imagine.
Already has a David Moyes/Dessie Farrell vibe off it.
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There were murmurs in Clare before the final that Cunningham could be defecting to Galway next season.
The one thing about the current set-up is thatâs a very tight knit unit. Practically nothing ever leaks out of the squad, youâd hear odd snippets about form etc but generally itâs a bit of an omertĂ which is the way it has to be for trust.
Kiely doesnât really carry hangers on so obviously the lads he has in with him bring something to the table. Intercounty management is a savage commitment. You probably have to be wired differently to commit. Itâs like running a small business.
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Iâm quite sure now he is handsomely compensated for both.
it would take the edge off a bit, that and having x3 months in the summer to focus on the latterâŚ
The key is who you can delegate to tho,. yer man with the glasses seemed to be running the show on the line and during the water breaks yesterday, in sure he has decent staff as well in the schoolâŚ
if you have that done and established , he is merely a facilitator then
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Itâs all about delegation
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As a former mentor of mine use to tell me - 3 Ds of management
Decide
Delegate
Disappear
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There are no obvious candidates, which is a slight concern possibly. Because they will leave eventually.
In an ideal world, youâd have some inside now learning the ropes as Kiely himself did.
And youâd hope that we continue to develop coaches & managers in the academy as we do with players. But still a bit away from an obvious replacement.
Lads here talking about Cork in 2025. Cork wonât win an All Ireland in the next 10 years.
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Agent OâNeill may return when heâs finished his mission in Galway 
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