This is not a column about VAR. I promise. Well, not really. It’s about hurling, and how it appears to be intent on destroying itself. By bringing in VAR. Wait, wait, don’t run away!

Michael Moynihan has rung all the juries, collated all the votes, and accepted all the bribes.

Having been nine points adrift as early as the 17th minute, Limerick would have given their right arm if offered there and then a 1-12 to 1-9 interval scoreline.

“Hurling is hurling.” Brian Cody didn’t need to say any more.

The Cats were better than the Munster and All-Ireland champions for the vast proportion of this game.

Not to put too fine a point on it but Kilkenny won the All-Ireland quarter-final largely because they were playing — and were allowed to play by and play through — Cork. Not to put too fine a point on it but they’re unlikely to win the All-Ireland semi-final largely because they’ll be playing — and will not be allowed to play by and play through — Limerick.

In the sporting realm, it’s obvious, but often under-appreciated in business is the maxim that you can’t get anything done without a team.

Much to the delight of the Limerick players, Mr Whippy has returned to the set-up.

“Getting the heads right” will be crucial if Limerick are to buck the dreadful All-Ireland semi-final record of recent Munster champions, according to Treaty midfielder Cian Lynch.

Cian Lynch, Declan Hannon, Gearoid Hegarty, and Graeme Mulcahy have been restored to the Limerick team for tomorrow’s Munster hurling final.

Fail to lift the Munster title this Sunday and Limerick are unlikely to retain their All-Ireland crown, former Treaty defender Stephen McDonagh has insisted.

If the phoney war taketh away, sometimes the phoney war giveth.

Waterford stalwart Michael “Brick” Walsh is expected to make his 75th Championship appearance as a starter in Sunday’s do-or-die Munster SHC clash with Limerick.

Dan Morrissey was among the thousands of Limerick supporters who took station on the Gaelic Grounds terrace the afternoon of the 2013 Munster hurling final.

Kiely said that the league defeat to Cork is a reminder of the challenge ahead.

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

Aaron Gillane has admitted he cringed when he reviewed a DVD of the Allianz Hurling League final, despite being named man-of-the-match.

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.

We are a week into Munster Championship Lent. The 40 days and 40 nights before the start of the Munster SHC on May 12 commenced last Tuesday.

Last weekend, Limerick’s Shane Dowling nudged David Dempsey as the National Hurling League final unfurled before them.

That Kilkenny is the only other county in the past 30 years to back up an All-Ireland final win with a hurling league title the following spring tells you the path which this Limerick group are forging for themselves.

After the Clare-Limerick match last Sunday, I slipped back across the border for a Cheltenham Preview night at the Na Piarsaigh clubhouse in Caherdavin.

To mark World Book Day, we asked Irish sports stars for their favourite reads.

Cork hurling great Diarmuid O’Sullivan believes his father Jerry has earned the right to run for the GAA Presidency after decades of rising up through the ranks.

Before last Sunday, no Limerick team had beaten Kilkenny in the Allianz League at Nowlan Park during Kyle Hayes’ lifetime.

To give an idea of just how glaring Clare’s concession of 15 pointed frees (24 in total) was on Saturday night, it’s one less than the placed balls that have been scored against Limerick across the first three rounds.

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.

Ballygunner joint-captain and goalkeeper Stephen O’Keeffe was frank after yesterday’s Munster club win, admitting it was “hard to sum up”.

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.

It’s All-Stars week and in the interest of keeping you informed, there is a change in the selection process from last year — an outfield player can be chosen for an award in an area other than the one they were nominated in, writes John Fogarty 

A couple of momentary mental lapses couldn’t stop reigning Limerick and Munster champions Na Piarsaigh reaching a seventh Limerick senior final in 10 seasons.

If you were taking the season as a whole, not just the championship, Lynch was definitely Limerick’s most important performer, writes Peter McNamara.

"You talk about complacency" — Tommy Walsh

It was Declan Hannon who said it, sitting in the victors’ banquet with the Liam MacCarthy Cup in front of him: ‘We’ve all marched behind the band out the back garden when we were four, five, six years of age.’

It was Declan Hannon who said it, sitting in the victors’ banquet with the Liam MacCarthy Cup in front of him: ‘We’ve all marched behind the band out the back garden when we were four, five, six years of age.’

"You talk about complacency" — Tommy Walsh

A championship like no other. A champion team like no other.

Galway hanging on by the skin of their teeth at Semple Stadium on Sunday went against a summer where eight, nine and even 11-point leads have been routinely wiped out.

By last Wednesday, John Meyler needed to rinse away the weekend. Extra-time. Defeat to Limerick. The long hours on the motorway back from Croke Park.

Are we now the best little country in the world at rejecting a narrative? Bursting bubbles might be the true people’s game.