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.”
