John Kiely heaped praise on his Limerick players for the second-half surge they summoned against Kilkenny which earned them a fourth All-Ireland Hurling title in a row at Croke Park.
Limerick could have been forgiven if they had been left reeling after Kilkenny's second goal via Paddy Deegan had left them five points adrift early in the second half.
But an outstanding surge saw them wipe out that gap within five minutes before they powered onto the finish line by a 0-30 to 2-15 margin.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Kiely credited his team for both their resolve and their ability to stick to the process in the white heat of battle.
"It's down to the players, totally and utterly. We have zero impact on the sideline. It's so hard but the lads, to be fair, showed calmness," he said.
"They were measured in what they were doing. They just trusted in themselves and in the process.
"And I know that might sound boring but it's so important to stick to it because if you go away from it, the whole thing falls away and they just kept chawing away and chawing away at it and I think they wore (Kilkenny) out in the finish."
The third quarter of the match was the point at which Limerick began to rise from their earlier slumber and Kiely felt that period of games had come to their rescue time and time again in 2023.
"We've been very strong in quarter three all year and we needed to be, if there ever was a day," he said, adding that they found the going tough in the first half.
"All credit to Kilkenny. They brought a ferocious intensity in the first 28, 29 minutes of the game and we found it very difficult to live with it.
An ecstatic John Kiely reacts to making history as he masterminded Limerick's four in a row.
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 23, 2023
📺Watch https://t.co/ZfZ9mA9XTY
📻 Listen https://t.co/2SRRKdgjzu
📱 Follow https://t.co/SKkrhbFQlu pic.twitter.com/8aBoia8WjD
"They turned us over on numerous occasions and as a result got great scores out of that. That and their puck out, we were struggling in areas.
"So we had to regroup at half-time but as I said earlier, quarter three, we depended on it this year and we really depended on it today."
Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng admitted Limerick were relentless in the way they ground down his side as the 70 minutes elapsed.
'They just get a run on you'
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 23, 2023
Derek Lyng's team could find no response once Limerick found their stride in second half
📺Watch https://t.co/ZfZ9mA9XTY
📻 Listen https://t.co/2SRRKdgjzu
📱 Follow https://t.co/SKkrhbFQlu pic.twitter.com/bWw2rcpz18
"They get a run on you and they got some fantastic scores out the field and probably a few decisions, they probably got them at crucial times as well, maybe 50-50 calls and the reality of it is we needed to get any of those today," he said.
"I would've felt there were times we had chances where we didn't take them and we needed to be taking everything.
"But I can't fault the effort from our players. They were outstanding all year, they gave everything today and sometimes it's just not good enough on the day and that's really the story."
