Nowhere to hide as lethal Limerick front up and save best for last
Man-by-man Limerick came back last winter, not with a point to prove to anyone, just the aggressive ambition to better themselves and be the best.
THIS Limerick team are not in the habit of ranking their achievements.
Last Sunday’s victory over Galway was “equally special” to the 2018 breakthrough win and all those in between, according to Diarmaid Byrnes.
After the well-documented disappointments of 2024 and ‘25, there was something a bit different about this campaign.
A return to the pinnacle. Proving to the doubters that this team was past their peak. The shock defeat to Dublin last year merely a bad day at the office, not a greater sign of anything. Limerick took that defeat on the chin and fronted up.
Man-by-man they came back last winter, not with a point to prove to anyone, just the aggressive ambition to better themselves and be the best.
And there’s no disputing their place at the top of the hurling tree. Four competitions, four trophies.
From January’s Munster Hurling League that saw a 15-point win over Cork and an eight-point success over Waterford, the Treaty were ready from the word ‘go’ in 2026.
National League and Munster Championship titles followed.
This stood to them as saved the best for last - an incredible display choking the Galway attack and depriving them of oxygen on the biggest stage. The Tribesmen had 14 different scorers in the semi-final win over Cork - they managed just 0-2 from play in the first half of this final.
“There was nowhere to hide out there,” said Patrickswell man Byrnes. “Our half-forward line and full-forward line set the standard in the first 15-20 minutes. We maintained it for the 70-75, which is just so impressive.
“Out of all days you want to go out and express yourself you want it to be All-Ireland final day. We did that in buckets.
“The boys coming off the bench added to the intensity and added to the scores.
"It’s special to be involved these days with lads you have soldiered with so many years. It all came together.”
“The last couple of years we were putting ourselves in positions to get back to a semi-final and contesting and winning Munster finals but the last few years haven’t all gone our way,” said Byrnes.
For David Reidy, it was a fifth time appearing in a final. The big games coming so often, it was strange from the Dromin-Athlacca man to go three years without playing in one. Hardly a famine, but for this current crop of Treaty men, longer than usual.
"We were training hard and trying our best but a few small things maybe went against us the last few seasons,” he said.
“It just means so much to the 37 players and everyone involved. We’re an incredibly united bunch of people. A lot of us have soldiered together a long time.
“The lads who have been around the last four or five years have really stepped up and then the newer lads again, the impact they have made around the group and the new energy they have brought to the group has been massive.”