Big Dan, the hat-trick man, has been to the dressingroom, there to retrieve his front teeth and make himself ready for his close-up. He has re-emerged and given face to the television people. We ambush him as he finishes with the cameras and, resigned to us, he leans back and lets the thicket of microphones in front of him grow and grow until he is ready to begin unspooling his thoughts on a Munster final that he'll tell his grandchildren about.

This was a game which yielded Shanahan 3-3 from play and put him in the cockpit for another All Star award when the gongs are dished later this year.

"What I score doesn't matter really," said Dan who holds, as the match programme noted with prescience yesterday, the odd and happy record of having scored at least one goal in every Munster championship game he has started under Justin McCarthy. "It's about the team and we are a gang of fellas who get on really well. We have the League and the Munster this year. That's two cups, but Justin said at the start that this season is about the third one."

Shanahan spoke without specific reference apart from the citation of a paper in Limerick about Waterford being written off and about the hurt which harsh words caused in the dressingroom. For a team who have often buckled under the weight of favouritism and expectation, finding some form of a cause before this match was obviously important. "We proved something," he said.

There's something very likeable and very inspirational about Shanahan. In a career which is almost a decade old he has gone from looking like a beaten docket to being perhaps the most feared big forward in the game. His three goals were opportunist in nature and rightly he gave the credit to those who created the chances.

His three points, though, were the mark of the hurler he has become. Each one was a big point scored under pressure and in a difficult geographical location. Big Dan has made it.

" I have these words on my wrist," he said pointing to one of those bands common among athletes and those seeking inspiration. "Work. Work. Work. That's what it is about. You have to work. We'll celebrate tonight but Justin will have us back training tomorrow night or Tuesday."

Work was central to Waterford's latest success and has become a theme of their season. Yesterday Limerick snapped at their heels for 60 minutes but towards the end the toil of many players, Michael Walsh and Stephen Molumphy in particular, began to sway the game. Molumphy has been a fine addition to Waterford's cause this summer and his input yesterday was ceaseless.

"He's a good man with army training" said Justin McCarthy afterwards with a smile. "He came down to me yesterday for a hurley and we had a chat and a bit of a puck around. He has the discipline and the ability. But listen, the older lads too today were important. There is a lot of leadership in the team now. I think we have learned."

" I don't think there was that much between the teams. In the last 10 minutes their strength and the experience they have made the difference," said Richie Bennis the Limerick manager.

Eoin Kelly looked briefly towards the end of the first half as if he were going to crack under the pressure which Limerick were exerting as he became involved in a few niggling rows. The suspicion, though, that Kelly has grown and is becoming the hurler he has always threatened to be was underlined by a little cameo while Michael Walsh was accepting the cup and half of Waterford was celebrating on the far side of the pitch. Kelly stood at the entrance to the tunnel with his partner and baby kissing both and listening to the speeches and celebrations from a distance.

"A Munster title means a lot to Waterford people," he said. "You'd never get tired of winning Munster titles but Waterford people would get tired of winning them if an All-Ireland doesn't come. This is a good day but there is an All-Ireland to be won. It's a match on the road to somewhere. We'll enjoy it and get back to work.

"We have won enough great games. Sometimes you have to do the job and win ugly. It counts just the same.

"This was a dog fight and we won it."