A new 'Golden Age of Hurling? Not on Brian Cody's watch.
You imagine the most successful manager the game has seen wouldn't be too impressed with the proposition that the sport’s health is at its rudest when Kilkenny, Cork and Tipp are not contending for the All-Ireland but after their his team’s epic semi-final victory on Saturday he won’t even have to contemplate it.
Kilkenny’s absence from the All-Ireland final over the last two years had already been the longest drought of his now 21-season tenure, and he damn sure wasn’t going to let it stretch to three, despite the received wisdom that the county was no longer the force of old.
We should have known better. Cody’s Kilkenny have now contested 19 semi-finals and only twice have they lost, both defeats coming against Galway and the last all the way back in 2005. There has also been one draw, with Waterford in 2016. Naturally, they won the replay.
The new Open champion Shane Lowry was feted before throw-in at Croke Park yesterday but Kilkenny weren’t there to throw Limerick a parade for their exploits over the past year.
These are Cats who relish the rarely cast role of underdogs and they tore into their more fancied opponents from the start.
Though they made it over the line by the minimum, and were lucky Limerick didn't have a late 65 to level, the consensus was they had been the better team throughout.
"Obviously, we knew the opposition was serious, All-Ireland champions, outstanding champions," a delighted Cody told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
"We came up here to be competitive, to give ourselves a chance and we were obviously competitive but we had to keep it going, grind it out and to finish ahead at the final whistle is massively satisfying."
"We started very well and our first 15 minutes was really, really good and that stood to us in the end because every score we got counted in the end.
"They got a goal very, very late in the first half and very late in the second half and that sets you back and you need a response. After the first goal we went straight up and got a point and that’s a serious thing to do.
"Then near the end, it’s a question of 'grind it out’, ‘grind it out and keep it going’ and it’s a great tribute to the players."
The mystery is how Cody manages to motivate his teams to play with such perennial intensity when their rivals seem to bloom and wither with the passing of the seasons.
"Look, it's either in a fella or it's not," he reasoned. "You can't send out fellas there that you know in your heart and soul are never going to be able to do that.
"Essentially, they're in the county panel first of all because they're well able to hurl, they have plenty of skill and all the rest of it, and then it's the application they bring and the honesty they bring and the sense of team they bring. Limerick are living proof of that with the way they won the All-Ireland final last year and they oozed it.
"We keep our feet on the ground. The only thing we'd ever like to think is that we'll go out and we'll work very, very hard. We've got nothing on any other team in the country and we have to (work hard) at all times.
"I said at the start of the year I had huge confidence in the panel of players we had. I know we had injuries but I continued to say I had huge confidence in our players. I still have because they're very, very honest."
Richie Hogan, who has a longstanding back issue, went off midway through the second half, having scored a point from play but not made the impact we have seen in previous summers, while Colin Fennelly was also subbed off late on after scoring a crucial 1-03.
"Lots of lads are sore and that's understandable. Colin has picked up knocks all through the season but keeps recovering well.
"We’ll have three weeks to see how things are. Obviously we’ll assess them this week and hopefully everybody will be fine."
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And so to the familiar build-up for an unfamiliar date – an 18 August final against the winner of today’s other semi-final.
Would Cody prefer old sparring partners Tipp or their Leinster conquerors Wexford in the decider? For now, he’s just happy to be there.
"I’d be very happy to play Tipp or Wexford in a final because I know we’re going to!
"It’ll be very easy to be in Croke Park to watch that game. That’s a lovely day always when you know you’re in it.
"It will be massively difficult to win the final. But you certainly couldn’t win if you weren’t in it. And we have a chance when we’re in it."
Follow Wexford v Tipperary (3.30pm) via our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and the News Now app. Watch live coverage on RTÉ2 from 2.30pm and the RTÉ Player and listen to radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1.
