The Munster Championship so rarely fails to deliver and Sunday's battle between Tipperary and Limerick at Thurles was a magnificent contest.
Tipp were on top in the first half and took a three-point lead into the break, only for Limerick to up the ante and move ahead briefly after half-time.
The Premier County, driven on by the majority in a 37,000-strong crowd, regrouped and were two points clear on three separate occasions before a final push looked to have won it for the Treaty men.
Tom Morrissey pushed them ahead once more in the third minute of added time, but Tipperary weren't to be denied as John McGrath landed the final equaliser with the last puck of the game.
The result keeps progress in Tipperary's hands and they'll be into the Munster final if they beat Waterford next weekend.
"We're delighted to come out at the end with the draw," selector Declan Laffan told RTÉ's Sunday Sport.
"It felt like it might slip away for a minute or two but we responded and got the score that got us over the line.
"It was proper Munster Championship hurling, like the old days with a big crowd and a tremendous atmosphere - a wonderful occasion to be involved in.
"A feature of our game all year is that we've fallen asleep for little periods, either coming into half-time or just after. But you'd have to be proud of the way the boys reacted, going three up again.
"It was tit-for-tat for the last ten minutes and when they stuck up six minutes of injury-time you were never sure what was going to happen. But we got there, and got the draw, so we're delighted.
"It'd be great to get to a Munster final in the first year with this group of players and management," he continued. "It's a big challenge, we're not going to take anything for granted.
"We should have won it, could have lost it; we're happy, the only one undefeated in Munster, so we'll take that."
Tipperary manager Liam Cahill was sent off in added time after he reacted to a poor sideline call, but Laffan pointed out that the incident took place in a particularly hectic period of the game.
"It's an emotional game. It's no different to myself when I'm on the line. It's part of the game. Sometimes we go over the top when we don't mean to but that's sport."
The result means Limerick will welcome Cork to the TUS Gaelic Grounds next weekend knowing they have to win to stay in the championship.
A trip to the Munster final is still possible, but it would need a Limerick victory coupled with Tipperary losing to a Déise side which hasn't showed up in the province this year.
Alternatively, if John Kiely's side claimed a big win over the Rebels, and Tipp drew, then they could get past them into second place on scoring difference.
"It was nip and tuck for the first 15 or 20 minutes but then Tipp got into the ascendancy and created a bit of a gap," said Kiely.
"We'd be disappointed with some aspects of our play in the first half, creating 20 scoring chances and the return just wasn't high enough.
"We'd a really strong third quarter and started to dominate the game but Tipp showed great fighting qualities. Our response to that was tremendous - the charater and resolve that we showed - on a day when we were doing everything right bar that last piece.
"We just refused to let it go from us today.
"We're delighted to get a result out of it. It means next weekend we have to go and win our match. We know exactly what we've to do. It's all on the line for both of us.
"We'll rest up for the week and come back and have a really good shot off it next weekend."
