A TOUGH CROKE Park experience for Derek Lyng to absorb.
His Kilkenny team struck the only two goals of the game, netting early in either half. They were ahead at half-time and only trailed by two with ten to go.
But ultimately they were powerless to suppress the might of this Limerick machine and left to digest the pain of All-Ireland final defeat.
“I thought we were well in the game midway through the second half,” said Lyng.
“They got that run and they got magnificent scores. And when you tie down one player, another player turns up.
“Look, they’re a fantastic team. They have quality everywhere. They will always come at you and I was expecting that to happen. It was just about getting one or two scores around that time just to stop the momentum. It’s very, very easy to say that. We just found it difficult.
“I felt that maybe a few of the 50-50 calls probably went Limerick’s way. And we needed them. We needed everything. Just to stem the tide. When they get a run on you, it’s very, very difficult to stop it.
“But I can’t fault our players. I thought they never gave up. They kept trying and kept working.”
Lyng hailed the performance of Huw Lawlor in how he handled Limerick sharpshooter and Hurler of the Year frontrunner Aaron Gillane.
“He was outstanding. He’s been outstanding all year. He’s a fantastic player. He emptied himself again.
“It was a brilliant battle. You’re looking at all the big players and where you need to win the battles, and I felt Huw won that, and that should have been a big help for us to win.
“Like I said, they have quality all over the pitch. They find pockets of space and they were able to score from distance.”
In the third quarter, Limerick began to bend the game to their will. They responded to Paddy Deegan’s goal by outscoring Kilkenny 0-10 to 0-1 over a 12-minute period.
It was an awesome performance and Lyng was asked to sum up what it was like to face such a bombardment.
“It’s not enjoyable anyway. You’re trying to look at make a few changes, see if you can stop the momentum in some shape and fashion.
“It’s difficult. We just didn’t do enough around that time just to get a score or two maybe to stop it, and that’s where we fell down.
“Really hard to combat and that’s when the wind comes into play, we didn’t win the toss and that can happen and maybe the wind helped us get a few scores in the first half.
“But as the game goes on and bodies tire and you are shooting from out the field, that’s when you like to have it. That’s no excuse by the way, we weren’t good enough but it would have helped.”
Lyng played himself on a Kilkenny team that conquered all for four successive seasons. Limerick have now matched them.
One of the best teams to have played the game?
“Ah yeah they have proven that, they have proven that now with four in a row and they don’t look like to me they are getting any weaker. They have huge experience, and their age profile is pretty good so they are going to take stopping again, there‘s no question about it. They are a fantastic team.”