The writing was on the wall at an early stage. We knew that this final was going to be about Limerick because if they brought their best, their A game, Cork wouldn't be able to live with it because no other county could live with it.
Gearóid Hegarty set the tone with a goal in the second minute, and although the response was commendable and immediate, Shane Kingston's well-taken goal was already about keeping Cork afloat, and the signs were ominous as early as the opening 10 minutes.
Limerick were hugely physical, as expected, and that impacted everywhere. The Cork puck-out was smothered, with the backs getting into trouble – their touch letting them down a little bit on occasion – and that forced Patrick Collins to go long and those restarts were simply eaten up by dominant opponents.
Lynch was exceptional, scoring 0-6 from play and giving two beautiful passes for the Hegarty goals. His touch, awareness and bravery make him a phenomenal hurler
There was consensus in the lead-up that Cork needed goals because they wouldn't get enough ball to win by scoring points, but you also need the ball to score goals. In the first half, Limerick maintained the pattern of the second half of the Munster final and the matches since, playing unbelievable hurling.
Nicky English: Power and poise on the big occasion points to Limerick triumph
Nicky English: Limerick, Cork and Waterford the leading proponents of new orthodoxy
Nicky English: Improving Cork show real resilience to set up a fitting final
Nicky English: Waterford and Cork ready to pounce on any sign of weakness
They were on top in all areas of the field. The defence settled down, Seán Finn and Dan Morrissey, their half backs, began to dominate and Will O'Donoghue and Darragh O'Donovan worked hard to set up link play and up front Cian Lynch was Cian Lynch.
Cork had a problem as anticipated: what were they to do about him? Mark Coleman likes to stand off him and play hurling but you can't afford to stand off Lynch. Now, I don't know who they had to mark him. I think they probably didn't have anyone – but really, no one has anyone to do that job the way he's playing.
He was exceptional, scoring 0-6 from play and giving two beautiful passes for the Hegarty goals. His touch, awareness and bravery make him a phenomenal hurler.
He's only 25 but he has three All-Ireland medals and is on course to become one of the greatest hurlers ever seen, fulfilling the immense promise he's shown all the way up through his Fitzgibbon Cup days with Mary I.
Yesterday he was conducting the orchestra, running the show. When they have been under real pressure this year and particularly in the first half of the Munster final against Tipperary, when the ship was in danger of running aground, he was the one who kept it off the rocks. Hurler of the Year – without a shadow of a doubt.
You'd have to say that it was one of the greatest first halves in an All-Ireland final by any team. The only blot was the injury to Peter Casey, who might have been up for Man of the Match himself after a display scoring 0-5 and, but for having to go off, would have pressed his claims further.
There were huge performances everywhere: Gillane, Tom Morrissey, Gearóid Hegarty with 2-2 despite not being at his very best, Declan Hannon directing at the back. In my lifetime, they're up there with the very best, bearing comparison even at this stage with the great Kilkenny team of the recent past.
It's hard for Cork to find positives. Their game broke down under the stress
But for an aberration in an All-Ireland semi-final in 2019 – against Kilkenny – they could be a four-in-a-row team now. If they keep hitting those levels, it’s hard to see who’s coming to challenge them.
From a Cork perspective they needed to go off-script and really fire up the Cork crowd, who created unbelievable noise for a half-capacity crowd of 40,000, during the pre-match parade. I hadn’t heard that sort of clamour before.
If they had been able to harness that, they might have been able to get to Limerick, but that was simply asking too much after a semi-final when they had effectively drawn with Kilkenny and bearing in mind the clear edge Munster hurling has had this year against Leinster counties.
Ultimately that probably wasn’t good enough form.
It's hard for Cork to find positives. Their game broke down under the stress. Their puck-outs struggled and they couldn't get enough possession. Simple hand passes went astray. We saw Luke Meade and Damien Cahalane, with opportunities to get hand passes away and create some forward movement, fail to execute under pressure from Limerick.
Whether Cork were the second-best team in the championship is in a way irrelevant, such is the gulf that now exists between Limerick and the rest
Effectively their spirit was broken and the second half became a face-saving mission. They had two chances of a second goal but there wasn’t much conviction left. They had skill and they had pace but couldn’t match the physical power of the champions and the pressure exerted in the middle third.
Flanagan and Gillane also exerted huge pressure on the short puck-out and, combined with the poor touch and nervousness, made it really hard for Cork to clear their lines. Corner backs in particular have no chance defending the quality of ball that was coming in.
It was a tough finale for Cork. Whether they were the second-best team in the championship is in a way irrelevant, such is the gulf that now exists between Limerick and the rest. The sense of renewal you get after an All-Ireland and the looking forward to next year isn’t as obvious this year.
You have to congratulate an outstanding team with outstanding management, playing textbook hurling. The bar has been set very high.
