“2019 stood to us” | Declan Hannon on using defeat to learn as Limerick once more raise the barometer

Sunday’s victory was Limerick’s first All Ireland Final win against the Cats in 49 years.

As Limerick continued to dominate the hurling championship, one question remained on John Kiely’s side, how would they cope if faced with Kilkenny.

The Cats fell foul to a first loss to Limerick in 45 years in 2018 as the Shannonsiders went on to secure the All-Ireland title.

But Cody’s men gained revenge the following year, dethroning the champions which remains Limerick’s last championship defeat.

On Sunday, Limerick answered the question, narrowing out Brian Cody’s side by two points to make it three Liam MacCarthy’s in a row for John Kiely’s men and extending Kilkenny’s wait for a title to seven years.

Limerick captain and history-maker Declan Hannon acknowledged the criticism his side have faced for the statistic but was full of praise for the Kilkenny side that haven’t been successful by luck.

“Kilkenny haven’t won so many All-Ireland’s by just rolling over like, they’re just relentless, as I said they just keep going and going and going. They came with everything, we were under savage pressure, winning balls they shouldn’t be winning and we weren’t winning balls we should’ve been winning which is just testament to Kilkenny and why they are the team that they are and the team they have been over the last, forever!

“Maybe for other people who questioned Limerick over the years that they haven’t beaten Kilkenny to win an All-Ireland, maybe it’ll quieten a few people that way.

“In 2019, not that we weren’t ready for the physicality of Kilkenny, but they just rocked us early on and then we were constantly playing catch up. So, I suppose having that under our belt from 2019 stood to us but there wasn’t a whole pile of talk about it to be honest”

“Maybe from the physicality point of view we might’ve honed in a bit more.”

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And Limerick’s physicality was a consistent trend on Sunday and proved crucial as Hannon’s side once more raised the barometer as the rest of the county will no doubt spend endless hours over the coming months plotting to stop the juggernaut.