It's amazing the difference that winning once can make.
After 45 years of being nearly men, Limerick's nervy All-Ireland final triumph over Galway in 2018 has been a platform for consecutive Munster and Allianz Hurling League titles.
The only real blip in the two years since was last year's one-point semi-final defeat to Kilkenny, something the team were determined to avoid repeating when they held off Galway and won through to this weekend’s decider against Waterford.
"We dealt with it when we regrouped at the start of the year," half-forward Tom Morrissey told RTÉ Sport.
"It was mentioned, losing that semi-final. We wanted to prove to ourselves that that isn't us. We came out and had a flat performance for the first 20 minutes and then, Kilkenny being Kilkenny, they know how to win and they kept us at bay and didn't let us draw level.
"We wanted to go one step further. It was just a motivation not to let ourselves get completely dominated by a team this year, for a patch of 20 minutes or 10 minutes or whatever it is. We don't want our season to end over that.
"We've been so consistent this year. We won all our league games and we've managed to do the same come championship. That belief is just instilled in us now, you kind of saw it the last day against Galway and in the Munster final in the last quarter against Waterford also.
"That game was going down to the wire and this team just had the belief and the character to pull it out of the bag and to get the result that we needed on both days."
Beating Waterford on Sunday would make this Limerick team just the second from the county to win two All-Ireland titles in three years (after 1934 and '36) but Morrissey (24) says that underage success has made the current panel comfortable with the idea of being consistent contenders.
"There's no denying the last few years have been unreal for Limerick hurling considering the lack of success that was there in the years before," he said.
"I don’t really know if it’s exceeded my expectations – I don’t think it has. We’re a very ambitious group. We were lucky enough to have success at underage as well. My group, we started at under-16, won an All-Ireland, back-to-back Munster minors. I have two Munster under-21s and two All-Ireland under-21s as well. I know I was lucky to be on those teams but success was ingrained in us.
"In my eyes, if we do want to be a great team, it's to push on and obviously win an All-Ireland or a few more if you want to be considered a great."
The Ahane half-forward also praised the impact of sports psychologist Caroline Currid, who he said has "a big influence".
"She does maybe give us that edge that you need to be competitive at this level. As do many people involved in that management and backroom.
"We’re surrounded by a lot of top-class people. They each give us a competitive advantage that you need to have over other teams at this level."
As for Sunday’s All-Ireland showpiece, Morrissey is expecting another tight encounter after the Treaty only narrowly dispatched Waterford in the Munster decider.
"To be honest, I'm not one bit shocked that we are facing them again in the All-Ireland," he said. "They made things really, really difficult for us in the Munster final.
"Their work-rate is obviously the one thing that's been absolutely phenomenal.
"They have some top quality hurlers down there in that team. We would have played a lot against them underage, the same group, in two Munster finals and that group also won the minor All-Ireland in 2013 and won the under-21s All-Ireland in 2016. If you do that with a group of players you're going to have top players in the senior team years later.
"We'd be very familiar with them and it's going to be another absolutely epic battle on Sunday."
Watch the All-Ireland senior hurling final between Limerick and Waterford and the Joe McDonagh Cup final between Antrim and Kerry live on RTÉ2 from 12.30pm Sunday, listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 or follow our live blog on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News app. Highlights on The Sunday Game (9.30pm RTÉ2).
