Limerick Under-21 hurling captain Diarmuid Byrnes believes the straight knock-out nature of a highly competitive Munster championship set his side on the road to Saturday's All-Ireland final meeting with Wexford.
The Treaty men beat Tipperary before dethroning three-in-a-row Munster and All-Ireland champions Clare in July.
Unlike the minor and senior championships, the U21 format offers no back-door to beaten teams.
"It's a tough championship. It's knockout and there's no messing around. You've no second chances," Byrnes told RTÉ Sport.
"Tipp in the first round, at the Gaelic Grounds, we blitzed them in the first 20 minutes and were up by 12 points. We let that lead go but we fought it back and luckily got over the line.
"We had Clare then in Cusack Park, their own back garden, defending three Munster titles [in a row].
"That was no easy task. We went into the match as underdogs and we knew we'd have a big task with the likes of Shane O'Donnell and Bobby Duggan lighting up the field whenever they got the opportunity.
"We knew we had to keep them quiet, and that if we did we would be victorious. Luckily, we were on the day.
"We sort of looked up to them coming into that match. What they achieved, three All-Irelands, three Munster titles, that's no easy task.
"We had to have respect for them but at the same time you couldn't have too much respect for them, when you come onto the field you can't really."
Limerick faced a Galway team that featured three senior stars in the semi-final but Byrnes was delighted with how his side coped with the threat of Conor Whelan, Cathal Mannion and Jason Flynn.
"We knew we had a big task to quieten them. I think we held the three boys to three points from play on the day," said Byrnes.
"That was a big achievement and I'm sure if someone had said it to [manager] John Kiely before the match he would have taken it with both hands. We knew if we let these boys go on a run they would have gone to town on us. We had to keep a close eye on them and keep them tied down as much as we could. We didn't do too bad."
Wexford now await in the decider at Semple Stadium (7pm) and the Model County will be highly motivated to go one better than last year's defeat to Clare.
"They have a lot of potent forwards and a big physical half-back line," said Patrickswell club man Byrnes.
"They're coming off the back of three Leinster titles, that's no easy task either. We've great respect for them. We have to really. We won't underestimate them - we haven't with anyone all season - and we won't take anything for granted.
"It'll be another big task but hopefully around half eight on Saturday I'll be mounting the steps."
