Anthony Daly: This must be one of the sweetest titles Kilmallock have won 

Kilmallock's Micheal Houlihan celebrates after the game with Dan Joy. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

Limerick have never known such heady times with three All-Irelands in four years but one of the highlights of yesterday for me was the manner in which the Limerick public showed how they’ve never forgotten the men that went before them. The Limerick team which we jousted with for so long throughout the 90s may never have won an All-Ireland but those guys were such great men that they carved a path for the generations coming after them to follow.

When they were being introduced to the crowd beforehand, I even – discreetly – got in on the act. I was in the TV/Radio press box above the Mackey Stand so a couple of the Limerick lads waved to me when they spotted me. The memory of Ciaran Carey coming up that field and scoring the winning point against us will never leave me but yesterday reminded me of how none of us could catch him on that scorching eternal day in 1996 – he still looks as fit as some of the players on the field.

There was definitely a nostalgic feel about the whole day especially with Tony Considine the Kilmallock manager. Having John O’Meara from Sixmilebridge leading Patrickswell offered another reminder of how Clare managers have had such a stranglehold on the Limerick championship over the last two decades, ranging from Considine to Sean Stack to Ger O’Loughlin to Jim Fawl.

It certainly wasn’t a classic but Kilmallock were deserving winners.

They did most of the hurling in the first half. They were excellent on the break while Graeme Mulcahy was the standout player from the first whistle.

They were well deserving of their two-point lead at half-time but the Well really seemed to have risen from their torpor by the start of the second half. When they went ahead by 0-15 to 0-12 they had such momentum at that stage that I felt if they could tack on another couple of points that they could just stride away from Kilmallock.

O’Meara had kept the Well in that bit longer in the dressing room to read the riot act and try and sort out where they were going wrong, but Kilmallock stayed in touch and they had Patrickswell reeled in before they could really hit their stride. After weathering that storm and getting the margin down to just one at the second water break, I kinda felt Kilmallock had the confidence then to go for it down the home straight.

You could see how animated Considine was during that water break because Kilmallock knew a goal would break the game apart. It was that type of game where the team that got the goal was nearly guaranteed to win the game. The Well had two glorious goal chances but Barry Hennessy made one excellent save from Aaron Gillane, while Gillane also hit the post after half-time after doubling on a sideline from his brother Jason.

When Oisin O’Reilly got the goal, and then when Seanie O’Brien got the line, the writing was on the wall for the Well. Conor Hanley got two monstrous points before Mulcahy added the coup de grace with another excellent point to emphatically seal the deal.

Kilmallock had all the standout players. Mulcahy was brilliant but Robbie Hanley really grabbed the match by the throat in the last quarter. Hanley and Aaron Costello were excellent throughout at midfield and the Well never really got to grips with that pairing.

The Well have three of the best players in the country – Cian Lynch, Gillane and Diarmaid Byrnes – but Kilmallock matched up well to all of them. Whether Cian carried an injury into the game, or he picked it up early on, they couldn’t get him into the match in the way they needed him to exert his control and spin his magic tricks.

The Gillane brothers had their moments but the O’Loughlin brothers did fair marking jobs on them at the same time. The Well did get some brilliant scores but they were kinda subsisting on sporadic brilliance and the best team overall won.

The Well were strong favourites but if you go through that Kilmallock team – even without Paddy O’Loughlin, who was a big loss – they have some serious players. O’Reilly has plenty of experience with Limerick, even if most of it was only peripheral involvement. Gavin O’Mahoney and Paudie O’Brien gave great service to Limerick in the first half of the last decade. Mulcahy is Mulcahy while Robbie Hanley, Costello and Hennessy showed why they’re important squad members on the current Limerick squad. Hennessy in particular is an excellent keeper, probably the best number 16 in the country.

Kilmallock had loads of those guys that might not feature on All-Ireland winning senior teams but they’re the type of guys that will win you county titles.

And yesterday must surely have felt like one of the sweetest titles Kilmallock have ever won.