Imposing Limerick forces questions on who can stop green monster now?

Hurling has gone green. On a blazing day for the old game in Croke Park, Limerick’s unassailable young team strode joyfully into the game’s holy scrolls, joining the establishment counties of Kilkenny and Cork and Tipperary in winning three All-Ireland titles in a row. And they are not finished yet.

It finished 1-31 to 2-26 and of the four MacCarthy Cups Limerick have lifted since their breakout summer of 2018, this was easily the deepest. Clare took them to the brink in June but they did not bow. Galway asked severe questions in the All-Ireland semi-final and might have cut them down, but could not.

Days out from this final came confirmation that Cian Lynch, their ungovernable wizard, would not play, the victim of a freak injury at training. And then on Sunday, with Ireland baking, they had to confront the most successful hurling force of this century. Brian Cody’s Kilkenny were the last team to defeat Limerick in the All-Ireland championship, tearing into the young champions with characteristic fury in the semi-final of 2019.

[ Live Blog: Limerick win third All-Ireland in a row as it happened ]

Limerick were heavy favourites to atone for that day. But that expectation in itself placed new demands on their shoulders. It meant having to negotiate their way through the strange and bewildering energy which Kilkenny can summon on these days, when black and amber teams seem to respond to the ghostly exhortations of Kilkenny teams who have played and won in this place a decade or a century ago. The suspicion that Kilkenny would take them to the edge here transpired. But in the end, they stood victorious.

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“Over the moon,” said Declan Hannon, who became the first player to lift the MacCarthy Cup on four occasions. “Pure stubbornness got us over the line in the end.”

Yes, the true grit that guided Limerick through that pulsating Munster final classic against Clare was once more in evidence. But poise, too, and a series of fabulous distance scores. When John Kiely was asked to set the significance of this latest triumph, he was not beyond allowing that to come good against those famed striped jerseys – and the immutable figure of Cody – has sealed the summer of a lifetime.

“It means the world. We have such respect for Kilkenny and what they have done and what Brian has done with the various groups he has had. Their record is unparalleled. It will take generations for it to be matched – and it probably never will.”

Kilkenny were outsiders here and there were a few occasions in the first half when it looked as if Limerick might achieve that majestic, steamrolling form of theirs. Gearóid Hegarty settled nerves with a sensational fourth-minute goal, a score that pushed him on to that realm where he is at once sublime and absurd, covering the big field in a limby canter and breaking Kilkenny hearts with three jaw-dropping points right in front of the Kilkenny bench.

Paddy Deegan put in a furiously honest and brave-hearted shift, fired two points of his own and yielded nothing to Hegarty, but he could now slow him. Still, Kilkenny somehow kept in touch through the general threat and free-taking of TJ Reid and the collective refusal to be daunted when they slipped five and six points down. They were four down at half-time. They waited and trusted for the moment.

It arrived in the form of Martin Keoghan’s goal, the Tullaroan man perfectly placed to finish coolly when the ball ping-ponged to him. As Kilkenny fans went berserk, Cody delivered final instructions to John Donnelly before sending him into the field.

Seconds later, Donnelly struck the score to level the final with his first touch. And in that moment, Kilkenny returned to a well-remembered place: level on the scoreboard, belief surging through the black and amber sections of the stadium and on the field, thunder in their hearts.

This is where Kilkenny are at their most serene and composed. An uncommon anxiety crept into the Limerick play during this period – fumbled balls and hurried passes that were nowhere in evidence in their previous two finals. During those few minutes, what would have been the most audacious win of the Cody decades seemed plausible.

[ Limerick player ratings: Gearóid Hegarty with a performance for the ages ]

Not for the first time, it seemed as though Kilkenny could call on an inheritance of know-how and that gilded history as they sought to substantiate these visions of a grand upset. Winning All-Irelands is in the DNA. The expectation that goals would come yielded goals. And in that second half Cody sent in key protagonists from the golden years: Walter Walsh resumed his menacing brilliance in the air to create the first goal for Billy Ryan. Richie Hogan, another garlanded all-timer, entered from the shadows and quickly struck an audacious point to level the occasion after 63 minutes. He thumped the summer air for effect. The gods cackled.

If ever there was a moment for Limerick to buckle, it was now. But this has been the season when they have shown that they do not waver. Not in resolve and not in the appetite for these gruelling battles. Cathal O’Neill, just on the field two minutes and 20-years-old, got possession around midfield, caught a clear look at the posts and let fly. The officials went to verify the score through Hawk-Eye but the young forward was certain the score was good.

He was right. It was a breakthrough moment in a run of five unanswered points for the champions. Fittingly, Hegarty ended their scoring. Kilkenny came back, rattling three quick scores in the haze of injury-time. But it wasn’t enough. There was no miracle conclusion for the hurling county whose relentless pursuit of these days has set a tone for the others. Now, Limerick find themselves in the same conversation of the Kilkenny team of went on a furious tear from 2006 to 2010, winning four-in-a-row and falling just one game short of completing five.

“They have won three All-Irelands in a row,” Cody said afterwards. “Good teams don’t do that. Great teams do that really. Our four-in-a-row team was quite a while ago now so we won’t even discuss that. Because today was all about this All-Ireland final for us.”

There was a sense that Cody’s mind is already turning to next season. Limerick, the green monster, are raiding the dreams of the hurling world in a way that would not have been imaginable a decade ago. The question once asked of Kilkenny now applies to them.

Who can stop them?