Jerome Cahill’s pinch-me moment? Easy, the Tipp dressing room on the evening of Saturday, January 26.

Former All-Ireland winning captain Michael Fennelly has advised Kilkenny’s players to tap into the tears and emotion of 2016 as they prepare to face Tipperary once more.

There’s no value in told-you-so’s and there’s no satisfaction in them either but what happened yesterday was in the offing.

Watching both teams warming up, I zeroed in on the goalkeepers.

This week on Dalo’s Hurling Podcast, Derek McGrath and Ger Cunningham talked Waterford’s psyche, Tipp’s flexibility, Limerick’s big calls, and Galway’s need for a performance.

In the BBC hit comedy Dad’s Army the butcher Corporal Jones always carried a bayonet. When asked why, his answer was ‘They don’t like it up ‘em’.

When Henry Shefflin talked up Limerick’s All-Ireland credentials earlier this week, he kept referencing the spine of their team.

Michael Breen would have started for Tipperary against Cork yesterday but for a freak injury which will rule him out for at least four weeks.

Michael Breen would have started for Tipperary against Cork yesterday but for a freak injury which will rule him out for at least four weeks.

I was working for RTÉ Radio 1 on the evening that Tipperary annihilated Galway in the 2010 All-Ireland U21 final.

I got talking to Joe McKenna in the Gaelic Grounds yesterday shortly after the final whistle. Joe was naturally on a high, as was the whole Limerick crowd, a good share of whom were down on the pitch basking in the warm afterglow of such an impressive win, writes Anthony Daly.

Tipperary defender Alan Flynn says a trip to Australia is not an incentive as the county look to claim a first Division 1 title in 10 years.

Former Tipperary star Lar Corbett believes the revamped All-Ireland senior hurling championship will be good for the game — so long as there are no dead rubber contests.

On the way home from the Gaelic Grounds yesterday, I was snaking my way out the Ennis Road in my car when I saw Conor Hayes at the side of the road.

After Clare were well beaten by Cork in the 1998 league semi-final in Thurles, myself, Fergie Tuohy, and ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin went back to Powers in Clarecastle.

Tipp and Wexford are the only teams whose form-lines have been ultra-consistent so far but February can do that to you, says Anthony Daly.

Waterford manager Derek McGrath on his fears that his obsession with hurling is affecting his job, his relationship with Davy Fitzgerald and being perceived as a pariah of the game

James Woodlock was the youngest of the four Tipperary players to announce their inter-county retirements after the 2015 season. The Drom & Inch midfielder was 29 at the time but insists he has no regrets.

I came in early yesterday morning to watch the Clare U21s play Dublin in a challenge game in Clare-abbey, our old pitch in Clarecastle. 

Waterford boss Derek McGrath paid due tribute to match-winner Austin Gleeson yesterday — and to the teamwork which won Gleeson’s late dead ball.

Experience won this absorbing provincial final for Tipperary, although it was a day of firsts for them.

Poor decision-making in attack, emotional tiredness and inexperience contributed to Waterford’s first competitive defeat of 2015, according to Déise manager Derek McGrath.

Yesterday in Thurles was my first time involved in a Munster final since I captained Clare in the 1999 decider against Cork.

Munster SHC fi nal

Match of the day in a busy weekend of divisional senior hurling championship games was the Mid Tipp clash of county champions, Thurles Sarsfields and divisional title-holders, Drom-Inch at Holycross yesterday.

Former Galway manager Noel Lane has called on current incumbent and former team-mate Anthony Cunningham to settle on positions for his players.

Tipperary 2-19 Clare 0-20

The Hurling 2020 Committee are not expected to call for wholesale changes to the playing rules of hurling.

Tipperary senior hurling champions, Loughmore-Castleiney suffered a shock defeat in the Mid Division’s SHC semi-final, losing to Upperchurch -Drombane 2-19 to 1-21 after extra-time at Templemore yesterday.

Long before Noel McGrath made his senior inter-county debut with Tipperary in 2009, anyone with even the faintest knowledge of hurling knew this kid was going to be a star.

A second Munster SHC title in as many years was the Tipperary hurlers' reward yesterday, but their manager Declan Ryan is still looking for more from his players.

Tipperary manager Declan Ryan was frank after yesterday’s game, admitting his side hadn’t “played as well as we could have” in the first half.

Padraic Maher kept his cool yesterday, even when Limerick were stretching for the finishing line.

BEFORE anything else, just consider this brief sample of the fare yesterday.