Limerick hurling manager John Kiely warned that his side still have room to improve after they won their third All-Ireland title in four years.

Kiely's men turned in one of the all-time great final performance to hammer Cork 3-32 to 1-22 at Croke Park and win successive titles.

The game was almost over as a contest by half-time with Limerick leading by 13 points and Cork never had an answer to Limerick's seemingly never-ending string of attacks.

Limerick would eventually finish with the highest points total in an All-Ireland hurling final but for Kiely, his side have yet to hit their peak.

Speaking to RTÉ Sport he said: "When we came back after lockdown we had a lot of work to do, we knew we had a lot of work to do but we trusted ourselves to get it right and we trusted the coaches to get it right and they did. That’s evidenced from today’s performance.

"I just think this group are very much on an upward trajectory and today’s performance copper fastens that.

"We played very much as a team today when one player made a mistake or there was an error in there, another player came in to make up the difference. That for me was the most pleasing aspect of the performance.

"We got things right from the start, in terms of our set-up, energy levels right. We started putting a lot of pressure on Cork ball coming out of defence and most of all, when we had the ball ourselves, we used it really well. And the lads up front were running mad into space and we were retaining the ball.

"Our accuracy was very high. We got into a flow and when you get into that state, it is very hard to stop."

Kiely admitted that he was surprised by the scale of Limerick's dominance.

"I was acutely aware of Cork's rising levels of performance over the summer and the confidence they were garnering, the support they were garnering.

"They had a head of steam up and when you have a head of steam up, as we know in 2018, it can often be very hard to stop.

"Whilst we were aware about it, we didn't obsess about it. We trusted our own players, trusted the work we were doing and we stayed focused on that work and what was important to us coming into today's game and trying to deliver on that."

Kiely believes the result and his side's display was a culmination of all the work they’ve put in over the last two years.

"It was a fantastic performance, there was great consistency in it from start to finish," he said.

"We worked really hard and I think that’s the one thing I’d be most proud of – how hard we worked collectively as well as individually.

"We got some fantastic moves together. Everything that Paul [Kinnerk] has been working with the boys over the last number of months was there to be seen on the field today and that gives great satisfaction to the coaches and ourselves.

"For everybody that’s involved, the work that they’ve all put in behind the scenes, it’s a fantastic reward for that."