Limerick 0-30 Kilkenny 2-15

Limerick became the third county to win four All-Ireland hurling titles in a row after an impressive 0-30 to 2-15 win over Kilkenny in Croke Park.

John Kiely’s Treaty men joined Cork (1941-1944) and Kilkenny (2006-2009) in winning a quartet of Liam MacCarthy Cups, with their latest triumph requiring a big second-half effort.

As is their wont, Limerick reserved their best performance of the season for the biggest stage, repeating last year’s final win over Kilkenny, who have now suffered a record four All-Ireland final defeats since their last victory in 2015.

A powerful second-half performance spearheaded by Peter Casey, who scored five points, enabled the champions to come from behind to win their 12th All-Ireland title. After Paddy Deegan scored a sensational 42nd-minute goal for the Cats to give them a five-point lead, they looked on target to cause a major shock.

But backed by the breeze, Limerick took complete control of the contest and outscored the Cats 0-19 to 0-5 during the remainder of the contest, which ultimately turned into a very one-sided affair.

John Kiely has now managed his native Limerick to 13 successive final victories (five All-Ireland, five Munster and three league titles) since 2018, and his place and that of his team in the pantheon of hurling greats is now assured.

For the fourth final in a row Limerick chalked up 30 points or more, and though they only retook the lead in the 50th minute with a Darragh O’Donovan point (they had led briefly in the first quarter), they fell just two points short of equalling the 11-point win they enjoyed over Kilkenny in the league final earlier in the season.

It was a bitterly disappointing end to Derek Lyng’s first season in charge. The only consolation is that they probably still over-achieved. They started 11 of last year’s team and Lyng now probably has to decide whether to rebuild or go with the same group again next year.

As expected, David Blanchfield was unable to take his place in the Kilkenny side; he was replaced by Walter Walsh, who was best man at Cillian Buckley’s wedding yesterday. In the subsequent reshuffle, Conor Fogarty moved to wing-back and John Donnelly partnered Adrian Mullen at midfield.

Limerick fielded as selected for their 16th championship game against Kilkenny. It was their 10th clash in All-Ireland finals, with Limerick edging the final score 5-4 heading into this year’s decider.

Twenty-two of the players who started last year’s decider were in action again while Kilkenny’s Tom Phelan was the only player making his final debut, but the Conahy Shamrocks’ player showed nerves of steel with a huge first-half contribution.

In a break with tradition, Limerick defended the Canal End in the first half. In 10 previous appearances in Croke Park, Limerick defended the Hill 16 end in the first half – on the only occasion they didn’t, Kilkenny beat them in 2019 semi-final.

Paddy Deegan opened the scoring for Kilkenny in the opening minutes and they held it for nearly five minutes before Cian Lynch equalised – it was the longest period Limerick had been behind in their four previous final appearances of this era.

Limerick pressed up on Kilkenny’s restarts, but Eoin Murphy opted to go long with his puck-outs and the strategy was rewarded after 10 minutes when Eoin Cody evaded the Limerick rearguard and buried the ball in the corner of the net after a wind-assisted Murphy puck-out had dropped into the danger zone and was flicked on.

Kilkenny’s ability to create space was hurting Limerick, and Phelan thundered into his first final with two excellent points.

The pressure on the champions was underlined when Will O’Donoghue and Diarmaid Byrnes were booked for big hits on Adrian Mullen and Mikey Butler respectively. In the case of the latter, Kilkenny goalkeeper Murphy again took advantage of the wind to land a huge free.

Byrnes converted his second free midway through the half and Aaron Gillane finally got on the scoreboard from play with a 19th-minute point – it was only the third shot Limerick had from play.

TJ Reid didn’t get on the scoreboard until the 23rd minute – he won a free after a brilliant fetch from a Murphy restart and was fouled and tapped over the free. It signalled the start of a purple patch for the Cats as they won five Limerick restarts on the spin and added three more points to extend their lead to six (1-8 to 0-5).

As they did in the semi-final against Galway, Limerick rallied before the break with three points on the spin. Lynch, the only Limerick player who was troubling Kilkenny, set up one of them and scored another.

Reid missed one free but converted another, but Cody was probably overly ambitious in going for a goal from an acute angle after Martin Keoghan hit the upright.

Tom Morrissey, who had gone down injured when Kilkenny were on their scoring spree, completed the first-half scoring to leave his side trailing by three at the break (1-9 to 0-9).

Given Kilkenny’s dominance – the Limerick puck-out strategy virtually collapsed in the second quarter – they would have felt short-changed with the three-point lead. Kilkenny had six first-half wides – two more than Limerick.

Pádraig Walsh replaced Conor Fogarty at the start of the second half as Gillane’s touch let him down in their first attack and a potential goal chance was lost for Limerick.

However, by the 40th minute they had reduced the deficit to a point after Byrnes converted two frees – the second one was won by Gearóid Hegarty, who had an ineffective first half.

But Phelan, who had lost the ball for the free, responded magnificently, winning the puck-out and pointing. Better was to come moments later when he took a brilliant pass from Richie Reid before linking up with Deegan, who blasted the ball with such power that it went through the net to give Kilkenny a five-point advantage in the 42nd minute

Limerick responded magnificently, taking control of the contest for the first time and reeling off five points on the spin – four from play – to level the game in the 49th minute.

TJ Reid did interrupt the Limerick scoring spree with a free but Limerick reeled off another five in a row to lead by four after 55 minutes. The accuracy of Byrnes from long-range frees was crucial.

Kilkenny hung on, out-scoring Limerick during the next six minutes, but the champions’ long-range shooting was in a different class, with Casey tormenting Tommy Walsh. With five minutes of normal time remaining, Limerick had stretched the lead to a remarkable eight points.

Kilkenny ran their bench but they were being over-powered all over the field and when substitute Cathal O’Neill scored deep in injury time it was Limerick’s 30th point and a special day for the Treaty county.

Scorers: Limerick: D Byrnes 0-8 (7f), P Casey, A Gillane (3f) 0-5 each, C Lynch, D Reidy, C O’Neill, G Hegarty 0-2 each; T Morrissey, B Nash, D O’Donovan, K Hayes 0-1 each.

Kilkenny: TJ Reid 0-7 (6f, 1 65); P Deegan 1-1; E Cody 1-0; T Phelan 0-3; E Murphy (1f), R Reid, J Donnelly, A Mullen 0-1 each.

Limerick: N Quaid; M Casey, D Morrissey, B Nash; D Byrnes, W O’Donoghue, K Hayes; D O’Donovan, C Lynch; G Hegarty, D Reidy, T Morrissey; A Gillane, S Flanagan, P Casey.

Subs: C O’Neill for Morrissey (55), G Mulcahy for Flanagan (61), C Boylan for Hegarty (68), B Murphy for O’Donovan (70 +1), A Costello for M Casey (70+3)

Kilkenny: E Murphy; M Butler, H Lawlor, T Walsh; C Fogarty, R Reid, P Deegan; J Donnelly A Mullen; T Phelan, M Keoghan, W Walsh, B Ryan, TJ Reid, E Cody.

Subs: P Walsh for C Fogarty (ht); A Murphy for W Wally (48), C Kenny for Ryan (54), C Buckley for T Walsh (64), R Hogan for Buckley (65, BS), Buckley for Donnelly (69)

Referee: John Keenan (Wicklow)