John Kiely didn't really need to be asked what Limerick winning a fourth consecutive All-Ireland titles meant to him.
The manager’s celebratory jig as he lifted Liam MacCarthy said it all.
"I would hope our body language at the end would tell you how much we were thrilled with the result," he told RTÉ Sport after his team beat Kilkenny 0-30 to 2-15 in Sunday's All-Ireland hurling final. "It feels absolutely fantastic.
"I really wanted this for the lads. They are an incredible bunch, they have worked so hard together and there’s never ever a night at training where these boys don’t deliver everything they had in the tank.
"You never know when you are going to get the chances again, you never get a chance like that anyway for certain."
This incredible fifth title in six seasons was the hardest won of all: a defeat in Munster, to Clare, that nearly kept them out of the provincial final, half-time deficits recovered in both the semi-final and final.
Not that you would know it from the final tally: Limerick have scored 30 or more points in an All-Ireland final four times in a row.
"There were times during the course of the year where we were really under the cosh, and in some matches the games could have gone against us," Kiely said.
"In the round-robin in Munster there was a huge challenge brought our way and we kept battling away, we found a way to win those games or get a draw and get something out of them. I think once we got out of Munster it gave us that opportunity to go back and do a little bit of work and get a bit of freshness into us, and we got stronger from all those games really as we went on."
"We deliberately played into the Hill today to take on that breeze in the first half"
On a sodden day at Croke Park, Limerick’s second-half accuracy was breath-taking: 21 points scored from 26 shots at the target, many of them from the sidelines or midfield. Peter Casey (0-05) finished as the top scorer from play despite not hitting his first until the 43rd minute.
Kiely revealed that they had chosen to absorb the Kilkenny first-half "onslaught" after winning the toss, backing themselves to finish strongly.
"It was a phenomenal second half, there's no two ways about it. We dominated apart from the goal. The goal was probably against the run of play but it was still a good goal and it brought the game back in and closed it again and made it difficult for us. But the response was good.
"We've had a really strong third quarter all season and it's amazing the way you take confidence from that. We deliberately played into the Hill today to take on that breeze in the first half. We wanted to face that onslaught. We wanted to absorb it. We wanted to feel it. We wanted to fight it and take it on.
"There is nothing more than they are facing there than what they are facing in training, or at least there shouldn’t be. So they have to cope with it and it took them a long time to learn how to cope with it but they got there eventually.
"It was difficult, it was very difficult, but the prize was to be able to take on those shots in the second half. There were some incredible scores taken. Even with the breeze, even with the distance, they were still fantastic scores that the lads picked off, Peter Casey..."
Though the winning margins against Galway and Kilkenny were the same, nine points, the Cats put up a tougher test until the hour mark, when Limerick pulled away.
"Kilkenny brought a huge challenge for us in that first 25 minutes, their intensity levels were through the roof," acknowledged Kiely. "Everywhere we had the ball there were three or four of them tackling us, we turned over ball, they created scoring chances and took their scoring chances. That first goal was really well taken. We were struggling on their puckout and our puckout. It wasn’t a pretty picture at that stage. They were 1-09 to 0-06 up and with a breeze at their back they could have easily got more scores up but we managed to respond at that stage in many different ways.
"We regrouped at half time, Paul [Kinnerk] did a super job in reorganising the lads and when I spoke to them initially, their feedback was very honest and very much on the point. They knew exactly where they were struggling. Once we got the ball and it started ticking over the bar, we got a good rhythm going and got into flow. They got a great goal again [from Paddy Deegan] and we responded really well at that stage as well. Once we got our noses in front and the lads came off the bench, we saw out the game really well."
Kiely paid tribute to Cian Lynch, who played superbly while captaining the side in the absence of injured skipper Declan Hannon. The pair lifted the trophy together, as they did last year after Lynch injured his ankle the week before the final.
"To fill Declan Hannon's shoes is no mean feat. The two of them work extremely well together on the pitch but off the pitch as captains, they do an awful lot of work behind the scenes. If you need to find out what's going on in the group, they're the two boys that you will get the information from.
"It's still difficult for Cian coming out of the season that he's had, not being able to be involved for much of the season because of injury and trying to get him right. To play in the semi-final was a huge piece for him.
"Cian just stepped up. I was so, so thrilled to see him lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup. He's a really phenomenal player, he's a great leader, and I was so thrilled to see him up there and see Declan up there with him as well."
Had equalling the all-time record set by Cork (1941-44) and Kilkenny (2006-09) been a motivating factor?
"We really do put a lot of effort into trying to live in the here and now. If you don’t in sport you’ll take your eye off the ball.
"You try to depend on your values that you have as a group, your work ethic, your honesty, your trust, that togetherness that is there as a group – those are the things you go to. You don’t go looking at the record that is gone ahead of you. Or what you’ve achieved or what anyone else has. You just concentrate on that, rely on that, as a foundation that you can go at this thing."
That’s a no then. A member of the Limerick media has the temerity to raise the prospect of a first hurling five-in-a-row next year.
"Enjoy this one now, Matt, come on will you, for God’s sake!"
