Gearoid Hegarty: Limerick saved their best performance for All-Ireland final day

Limerick's Gearoid Hegarty and Will O'Donoghue celebrate as Limerick are All-Ireland Hurling Champions. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Limerick forward Gearoid Hegarty put in a man of the match performance as John Kiely's men powered to an All-Ireland title with an emphatic win over Waterford.

Hegarty added the All-Ireland medal to the one won in 2018 as well as success he had a U21 level.

Playing in a surreal championship behind closed doors, the St Patrick's club man said that once the whistle was blown, it was another game of hurling.

"When you go inside that white line there, nothing changes it's the same as it was before and that's where the battle was won.

"We did our job today and we got it done."

This Limerick team is backboned by the U21 teams of 2015 and 2017 and this has meant that a number of players have come up through the ranks together, included Limerick's other wing forward Tom Morrissey.

"We knew each other inside out at this stage, we are training with each other five nights a week for nine months," Hegarty said, speaking to RTÉafter the 11-point win.

Limerick were criticised in some quarters after needing a big finish to get over Galway in the semi-final but Hegarty insists the team were always improving.

"You don't get to an All-Ireland final easy, we had to fight and battle for every single ball in every game this year," he said.

"We knew we were on an upward curve and we knew we would save our best to last and thankfully we performed to the best our ability today."