Patrickswell hold the only 100% record after two rounds of the Bon Secours Hospital Limerick Senior Hurling Championship.

Na Piarsiagh showed that they have every intent in holding onto their title after they swept aside South Liberties by 4-20 to 0-10 in Mungret.

Former Tipperary senior hurling manager Michael Ryan will take charge of the Limerick county champions Na Piarsaigh.

Red and black were the colours on the trophy yesterday as Ballygunner made it a first Munster club senior hurling title since 2001, an emotional victory for the Waterford men. They had lost to yesterday’s opponents, Na Piarsaigh of Limerick, twice at this stage in the previous three years, and their determination to break that series of defeats was clear in Semple Stadium.

When I was driving back from Thurles yesterday, I was listening to the widespread coverage on RTÉ Radio 1 of Ireland’s memorable win against the All-Blacks on Saturday evening. Hugo McNeill and Eddie O’Sullivan made some really interesting points but the general thrust of their analysis was that Ireland just refused to take a backward step against the World champions, writes Anthony Daly.

Ballygunner were crowned Munster hurling club champions in Semple Stadium, the Waterford side collecting a historic first title since 2001.

Another statement of intent from Na Piarsaigh but three injuries will give them food for thought ahead of a second successive Munster final on November 18.

Extending their unbeaten provincial run to 12 games, Na Piarsaigh cruised into a second successive Munster final with an emphatic win over Clonoulty-Rossmore but lost key men Shane Dowling and Ronan Lynch to injuries.

Comparing teams, who’d win a World Cup of hurling if every county was matched off to a country.

Cuala have just kept finding the answers when the hardest questions imaginable have been asked of them, writes Anthony Daly.

Kevin Downes still smiles at the memory of Sean Stack’s first night training the Na Piarsaigh hurlers in early 2009.

The main talking points from this weekend’s Allianz League action.

It should go down as the Game That Never Was. As if no one ever paid or made their way through the turnstiles to watch it; as if no one ever played that Saturday evening; as if, for that moment in time, it didn’t seem to make the rest of the world fade into irrelevance, rather than the world soon after reducing that game to an irrelevance, writes Kieran Shannon.

When John Kiely announced his extended panel for the 2018 campaign, 10 of the 38 players listed were from the Na Piarsaigh club.

Take a left inside the main entrance doors of Midleton CBS and you’ll quickly stumble upon a full board of Harty Cup player profiles.

Na Piarsaigh remain on track for two AIB All-Ireland club SHC title successes in three seasons following a thrilling semi-final comeback win over brave Slaughtneil at Parnell Park.

Limerick’s John Kiely and Cork’s Ronan McCarthy are among those inter-county managers who may not be able to field players from their senior county championship-winning clubs in this year’s Allianz Leagues.

The memories came flooding back to me in Thurles yesterday from all angles. It was almost 20 years to the day since we, Clarecastle, won our only Munster title in 1997. We had beaten Ballygunner in the semi-final. There was a Limerick team in the final again yesterday, just like there had been when we met Patrickswell.

The scramble for national honours, a second All-Ireland title, will begin again after Christmas but suffice to say for now that Na Piarsaigh’s status as one of the finest Munster club hurling teams of all time is well and truly secured.

Things we learned

Given the wealth of underage successes the club has enjoyed in recent years, the turnover in the Na Piarsaigh team shouldn’t come as a surprise.

“The record is not something we have brought up or even discussed,” said Na Piarsaigh manager Shane O’Neil after their Munster semi-final win over Blackrock.

This was a convincing return to fortunes for Na Piarsaigh whose fourth senior county title never really looked in doubt in the Gaelic Grounds.

For some managers there’s a sense of rationalising what’s happened with the league, or what hasn’t happened.

The loss of John O’Dwyer to an early red card didn’t deter Tipperary from confirming a second successive Munster final date with Waterford.

All-Ireland Club hurling champions Na Piarsaigh were again defeated in the Limerick SHC over the weekend.

TJ Ryan has welcomed back the Na Piarsaigh players after their successful All-Ireland club campaign, but you couldn’t blame him for wishing he’d seen them a bit earlier in the season. His Limerick side didn’t get out of Division 1B, and the likes of Kevin Downes, Shane Dowling, and Ronan Lynch would surely have made a difference for them.

Jake Dillon is patient when you mention “the system”.

Limerick 1-21 Dublin 1-19: Limerick manager TJ Ryan has launched a scathing attack on local commentators, describing them as ‘vultures’ and claiming they haven’t given his team near enough credit.

Na Piarsaigh duo Kevin Downes and Shane Dowling proved their worth to Limerick with 1-8 between them as the Shannonsiders secured a first Allianz hurling league semi-final place in a decade.

Kerry and Donegal have had their proposed €7,500 fines reduced to €5,000 following a Central Hearings Committee (CHC) meeting in Croke Park on Wednesday night.

AIB All-Ireland Club SHC semi-final - Na Piarsaigh (Limerick) 1-22 Oulart-The Ballagh (Wexford) 0-20 (AET): Na Piarsaigh will see Croke Park on St. Patrick’s Day, the Limerick side casting aside previous semi-final defeats to book their place in the All-Ireland club final on Saturday evening in Thurles.

“How did I know concussion was going to be mentioned?” asked Kevin Downes afterwards, with a wry smile.

Na Piarsaigh (Limerick) 2-18 Ballygunner (Waterford) 2-11: Na Piarsaigh’s greater experience and physicality served them well yesterday in Semple Stadium, as they turned on the afterburners in the second-half to beat Ballygunner to the Munster Club senior hurling title.