Thurles was like a Scottish rock band all day. Wet wet wet.
The Clare fans could feel the anticipation of a first Munster title in 24 years in their fingers and in their toes, and had been wandering the town since well before noon, hours of drizzle dampening their clothes but not their enthusiasm.
The blue and yellow poncho-wearers shouted slightly louder in an evenly split crowd of 45,158 – at one stage a chorus of boos chased an Aaron Gillane free wide, Thomond Park it wasn't – but after 90+ minutes of unbearable tension it was the not-so-little green men who came away with the silverware once again.
John Kiely has now led Limerick to four provincial titles in a row and few would bet against a third All-Ireland on the trot for his magnificent team.
But, in Clare, the Treaty seem to have found a worthy rival at least – Kiely saying afterwards that yesterday’s extra-time epic ranked in the top four games of his six-year reign, as did last month’s draw in Ennis.
"I think there was no quarter asked or given," was his assessment of the Semple Stadium slugfest. "They are two honest sides who really go at each other in every sense of the word.
"The game could have gone any way. I just think our experience shone through in the finish and we were able to find those vital scores when it mattered.
"It [winning] felt phenomenal because the challenge we had to overcome was immense. There were times there when things weren't stringing together and we were struggling, we were struggling with restarts, we were struggling with general play. We just had to keep going. It was one of those days where you just had to keep grinding it out.
"All hats off to my crew, I am so proud of them. We had a tough spring. We worked really, really, hard. We have come through the round-robin and as you can see we really, really wanted to win this game today. It meant a huge, huge amount to us."
Limerick thought they had won a tit-for-tat encounter through Declan Hannon's late long-range point in normal time before some Tony Kelly magic forced 20 additional minutes, in which the champions showed their big-game experience.
"We created enough of scoring chances to win it in normal time," suggested Kiely. "With a one-point deficit and Tony Kelly has a sideline 21 yards out on the left hand side, you are opening the door. There was a chink of light and he struck it through the chink of light and that is a measure of the man he is himself.
Tony Kelly showed nerves of steel in the dying seconds to force extra-time in Thurles #RTEGAA #MunsterHurlingFinal pic.twitter.com/AEz8AM7coE
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 5, 2022
"There were phases then where we got a bit of control, in the last 15 of the first half, the start of extra-time, as well. Even in the second half of normal time, as well, we had a lot of the play, we just didn't convert enough of our chances into scores. We had just too many wides [19 in total].
"We made reference to it coming into extra-time that we had been here before with Cork in 2018. Having that is great to look back on as a reference point going out again.
"We started well in extra-time, really, really well. We could have put the game to bed a bit earlier but this Clare team, you are going to earn every single crumb you have with them. They work really, really hard and they are hugely fully of energy. They are great hurlers, so we are thrilled with the result."
Does Kiely see a possible rematch further down the tracks in the All-Ireland series?
"I have no doubt in the world."
Brian Lohan’s men have pushed Limerick harder than any team since the All-Ireland holders’ last championship defeat, to Kilkenny in 2019, and were the first to take them to extra-time since Cork the year before that.
That was understandably of little consolation to the Banner boss but he was proud of his players’ efforts nonetheless.
"We’ve a good group there that work exceptionally hard and they give their all every time they go out," he said.
"We couldn’t ask for any more. Unfortunately for us, it wasn’t good enough today.
"They’re [Limerick] an exceptionally good team, an exceptionally good bunch of defenders. We knew that and they got one goal chance and they took it.
"We probably got one, didn’t take it. At this pitch of sport and this pitch of hurling and you’re up against that kind of team, it’s tough lessons."
Clare will be favourites to beat Wexford or Kerry in a fortnight’s time and set up a semi-final clash with Leinster champions Kilkenny.
"It’s going to be hard to recover from that, mentally and physically, so we’ll see how we go," said Lohan.
With the clouds gone and the tracksuit dry today he might permit himself a little more optimism.
Clare could get the chance to sing in the rain themselves yet.
