Paul Murphy Column- Kilkenny gave it their all but Limerick proved too powerful

It was bitter disappointment for Kilkenny on Sunday - any time you are in an All-Ireland final and don’t win you are going to be disappointed - but the performance of Limerick in the second half once they got a run on Kilkenny was just so dominant.

Our lads were putting their best foot forward and trying their very best as well as continuing to fight, but Limerick were stronger on the day. In many ways you can make your peace with that as you were just beaten by a better team on the day.

Looking at the Limerick team, they were just so impressive in Sunday’s final.

Our lads put in a great performance in the first half and they stayed fighting but it just wasn’t to be Kilkenny’s day at the end.

Limerick are incredible. Look at all their stats in line with any team that has played before. They look like a team that aren’t going to slow down anytime soon and from all aspects of the game there are no weaknesses.

Even hitting the 30 point mark at the weekend was significant. Doing it in an All-Ireland final is very special indeed.

Look at their basics from their hooking and their blocks to their possession ratings. Everywhere you look it’s just so impressive.

Whether it’s the stats, or the margin that they are beating teams they are just so good at almost everything.

Scoring 19 points to Kilkenny’s five coming down the home straight is all you need to see. That’s the main statistic I took from the day.

Kilkenny were very good in the first half and it all started with Tom Phelan making an early hook - the tackling in defence was also ferocious.

The team also used the ball very well at times where the full-forward came out and forced the Limerick defence into retreat.

I was encouraged by Kilkenny’s performance as they went into half-time three points up and they were doing everything you’d hope they’d do.

You couldn’t fault them really and at the end of the day it wasn’t Kilkenny’s failings that lost this match; it was just how dominant Limerick were able to be.

After Limerick absorbed everything Kilkenny were able to throw at them they just upped the gears a small bit more, so Kilkenny’s performance was excellent in many ways and they could only do what they could possibly do.

Coming away from the game you could make your peace with the fact that the lads couldn’t have done anymore.

It’s hard to know what Kilkenny could have done to stop the momentum going against them. Maybe if you look back to the Limerick and Galway game in the semi-final, when Galway were dominant and Henry (Shefflin) made his team sit back as they were expecting the onslaught coming their way but it still didn’t stop Limerick.

Once they got going and they enforced their game on Galway, there was no stopping Limerick. It was very similar on Sunday.

Kilkenny had to stay on the front foot, as the idea that you could just sit back and soak up the Limerick pressure was never going to work.

Limerick were always going to come with a relentless drive and Kilkenny had to hope that their defence could stay tough.

While a few small changes could have been made, I don’t think overall that it would have made a huge difference to the scoreline.

Limerick just got a run on Kilkenny - it’s very hard to stop that. There’s a reason they were going for the four-in-a-row.

The Kilkenny forwards will look back on the game and probably think if they had chipped in a bit more with maybe a point extra each that they may have been in a better position.

Limerick had the matchups to a tee though and they shut down our forward line very well.

There was even a few occasions where Kilkenny worked the ball really well but Limerick were still able to snuff them out.

Kilkenny may feel that they could have scored a few points here or there if they had used the ball a little better but those things are going to happen during a game; you can’t be too hard on yourself.

If you lost by a point or two you could maybe pinpoint a few more things for the defeat but at the end of the day you can only compliment the Limerick defence on a fantastic defensive effort that shut down the Kilkenny forwards so well.

From personal experience once a player gets over the age of 31, you start to wonder what way the body is, can I give 100%?

That’s how a few of the Kilkenny players will maybe feel.

A lot of the players will go away and there’s no point in pretending either - there is a few lads that are the far side of 30 who will wonder should they, or can they, go again.

They may also think ‘do I have an influence in the dressing room that will see me stay on’ so that’s a very personal thing. The players will have to look at that.

I’d say there will be a few retirements. Who will go remains to be seen, but I don’t think the players will be thinking about that this week.