Coasting to All-Ireland success and being able to savour the closing minutes of a landmark 12-point final win for Kerry, was a "dream scenario" for joint manager Darragh Long.
It was all the sweeter because precisely 12 months ago, after Kerry's painful final loss to Dublin, and on the back of the 2022 final loss to Meath, Long and Declan Quill had agreed to step aside as joint managers.
"We were in the middle of the field last year looking up at Carla (Rowe) getting the Cup for Dublin and blue everywhere," said Quill.
"I remember we shook hands and he (Long) said, 'That's it'. And I said, 'That's it for me too'. He has kids at home, I have three kids at home as well. It is hard to keep everything going."
The following morning, during a chat at the team hotel before returning home, they started to talk about the tweaks and alterations that might possibly make the difference in 2024. And just like that, they were up and running again.
The journey from there to here, to the summit of the 2024 Championship, via a first Munster championship success since 2017, has been a thrilling one.
"Perseverance is some trait to have and we have got it in absolute abundance," said Long. "We wrote down four items five and a half years ago when we took this job. We have ticked every box as of today.
"And yet last year we could have thrown in the towel, and we were super close to doing that. We thought we had run our race. We thought we had asked as much of the girls as we could ask of them. But we sounded girls out and they wanted us back. Unfinished business.
"It was tough losing against Meath two years ago but we probably weren't expected to win. A lot of people maybe thought we'd win last year so that one hurt. And last year still hurts even though we have won today.
"But today is also going to make up for every bit of sacrifice we have asked of them and that they have asked of us over the last couple of years."
Against that background of final failures - they lost another one earlier this year too, to Armagh in the Division 1 league decider - it was particularly sweet for the management watching Kerry streak to victory at Galway's expense. The game was as good as up at half-time when they led by eight points.
"It was a dream scenario to be in that position a couple of minutes out," agreed Long, who suggested that Galway can do a Kerry themselves in the coming years, and bounce back from the pit of All-Ireland despair.
"If anything, for Daniel Moynihan, he'll take inspiration from what we've done," said Long. "What he's done with that Galway group, going from the disappointment of the league and relegation to an All-Ireland final is huge. That's testament to him and his group of girls. We had lovely words with him before the game and after the game."
Louise Ni Mhuircheartaigh, the 2023 Footballer of the Year and Kerry's ultra experienced forward, fired six points overall and was their dominant figure in the first-half.
"It means absolutely everything," said the 33-year-old. "This is what we have dreamed of for years and years. Just to do it finally after having that heartbreak last year and the year before, what a group, what a crew!"
For Galway, it was another All-Ireland senior football final defeat, following on from the men's defeat to Armagh. Both Galway managers reflected on missed opportunities after the respective defeats too.
"We got our shots away, we were still breaking lines and getting opportunities to put the ball over the bar but our accuracy wasn't where it needed to be," said Moynihan.
"The Kerry defence did really well against us, particularly where we like to probe and create opportunities. But I still think we made a lot of opportunities in the first-half and we just didn't convert, even goal chances as well, and that's going to cost you in an All-Ireland final."
The more positive outlook is that nobody gave Galway much of a chance of doing anything in the Championship after their relegation from Division 1 of the league.
They also lost the opening round of their All-Ireland campaign to Cork but bounced back impressively after that with big wins over Laois, holders Dublin and Cork to reach the final.
"There's a lot of girls that are quite new to the panel, we blooded quite a few players in the league," said Moynihan, agreeing with the suggestion that they can use this defeat as a building block of sorts.
"They've got a run to an All-Ireland final which is a huge level of experience to gain. So there are pluses to take from the season as a whole, definitely.
"We worked really hard to get here, we beat some fantastic teams, so there are a lot of positives to take out of it."
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