PETER CASEY HAILED his Limerick teammates after they completed a second-half comeback to claim a fourth All-Ireland SHC title in succession.
Kilkenny found themselves leading by five points in the 41st minute when Paddy Deegan fired his shot low and hard, and through the net at the Hill 16 end.
Limerick responded with three points in as many minutes and then took charge to eventually seal victory by nine points: 0-30 to 2-15.
And forward Casey said: “At half-time we weren’t happy with our puck outs, their puck outs, Kilkenny were that small bit hungrier than us on the breaking ball and we addressed that.
“I actually think we started the second half well and Paddy Deegan’s goal was a sucker punch but, listen, we’ve been here before, we have loads of reference points. Just absolutely delighted to get the kick out of the boys after that.
“I think we got the next six, seven points after Paddy Deegan’s goal which was huge to push on again,” he told RTÉ.
“It’s just the history we have, we’ve all grown up, we’ve had success at underage, there have been times when we’ve had ups and downs in our careers and stuck together.
“Our half back line is well over 6ft 2, 6ft 3, it’s brilliant and a platform for us to kick on and try and get scores. It’s up to us then to try and do the damage.”
Casey notched three points in the game and added: “It’s about patience. We’ve all been here before and it’s about being patient as much as we can and hopefully they’ll come our way.”
While an overjoyed Diarmaid Byrnes made sure to praise Kilkenny, the reigning hurler of the year pointed to the ability of Limerick to fight back in the second half as pivotal.
“Unbelievable. Look, Kilkenny brought exactly what we expected. Just pure intensity. Honesty. We always speak about the Kilkenny teams of the past but they are a real replica, they have inherited that. It’s in their DNA to work hard and them lads died in their boots.
“There were big moments to step up and we did across the field. We had a big talk at half time to get us going for the second half and we saw the response. The lads were just immense. We enforced our gameplan and what we we were trying to do.”
8 year drought…… Long may it last. :-D
Some achievement
Best team won
Serious game of hurling for 45 minutes,
Please someone in croke park stop teams throwing the ball
25 amateur counties playing against 1 professional county lk with a billionaire backer jp mc manus. not a level playing field?
@Damian Moylan: do you think these lads don’t have jobs? I know a few of them and they all work
@Damian Moylan: Hope you have a lovely evening,sure come down to Limerick we are having a big party,it might cheer you up.
@Damian Moylan: get over it to fk, year’s of heart break and hurt, now plaudits, yes a sugar daddy has come in, 20 year’s ago, takes that long. You think those 30 odd players just became the best in the world, they can do the never done, up to the next county and bunch of players to supercede them
@Damian Moylan: how sad are you
@Damian Moylan: morto for you Damien
Look, i am very impressed with the LK win and after a long time of a draught i am very happy for ye. I just heard about the jp thing and am not fully sure about how much money he put into it. Good night lads, enjoy ye’re night, a fabulous perfomance. Ye beat galway and kilkenny by 9 points fair play. d.
@Damian Moylan: you seemed to know alot about it above Damien, at least be a man and stand by your previous bitterness. LUIMNEACH ABU
Water breaks throwing the ball nickey faking injuries Paul kinnerk knows more than every one else suck it up lads long may it last the big 3 have now done 4 in a row.
Does any team deserve 5 in a row, should it always be something that will never be done?
@Bob Ivors: it’s like any sport, if you’re good enough then you deserve it