“WE WANTED a good performance and we got it. Great synergy from everyone on the field and we got a real impact from the bench.”

The Munster Senior Hurling League is not usually a competition that sets the pulse rating, but Limerick manager John Kiely wasn’t hiding his satisfaction as his team comprehensively brushed away the challenge of Waterford 0-23 to 0-15 in the first final of 2026 under calm but cold overcast conditions in Mallow.

After Cork’s late rally against Clare ended up eliminating both from the running, Limerick were provided a bonus fixture two weeks before they open their Division 1A Allianz League campaign with a journey to Waterford and they made the most of their surprise qualification with a performance way above that expected before the season begins in earnest.

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Sure, they were lining out against opponents missing their entire Ballygunner contingent and they didn’t get it easy before the break as Waterford blew their chances of an upset by shooting eight wides to two but, when the Shannonsiders re-emerged from the dressing-rooms, they stepped on the gas and shot out of sight with the slick, fast, controlled movements that have delivered five of the last eight All-Irelands.

It remains to be seen whether this burst of form carries on to the spring and summer but the vast majority of the sold-out attendance of 2,000 were treated to a team clearly enjoying what they were producing on the pitch.

Whenever they needed a burst of scores, the sliotar richocheted like a pinball through the lines, whenever the effort eased back, the defence closed off the spaces that reduced their opponents to just the single point from play after the break.

The game started to a rattling pace as Joe Fitzgerald’s opener was met by Reuben Halloran and surpassed by Billy Nolan coming up from his goals to point a free before Donnacha Ó Dálaaigh tied up the scores for Limerick.

However, after Seán Mackey restored the Suirsiders’ lead, Limerick calmer approach took over as Shane O’Brien, Gearóid Hegarty, O’Brien again and Aidan O’Connor found the target with points. After Jack Twomey’s pointed ended a run of Waterford wides, O’Brien and Fintan Fitzgerald stretched the gap out to four with further coming up to the quarter mark.

Once they found their range again, the collective Decies’ effort locked into step again with Halloran’s pointed free and Jamie Barron’s score from a tight angle.

The intensity lifted again as O’Connor sent over a ’65’ for Limerick after O’Brien lost his hurley with the goals at his mercy.

Halloran and O’Connor swapped frees, before another Halloran point from a placed ball was followed by Jack Fagan bringing the gap back to the minimum.

There it stayed as O’Connor’s swashbuckling point through the challenges was cancelled out by Halloran’s fourth free to bring the score to 0-12 to 0-11 at half-time.

Although Halloran punished another foul straight off the restart, his equaliser for Waterford was immediately overtaken by O’Connor’s free at the other end.

With their six half-time substitutions seamlessly sliding into their positions, Limerick purred up through the gears to rattle off scores from an O’Connor free, with Ethan Hurley sending the puckout back between the posts.

O’Connor then added another free and this was followed by a point from him from play and two more frees to open up a gap of six.

Coming up to the three-quarter mark, the tempo dialled back a notch as Halloran’s free was cancelled out by a score from Cathal O’Neill.

Adam English shot from a burst up the middle was stopped on his line by Nolan,before Cathal O’Neill got his name on the scoresheet in reply to Halloran’s free.

The scores continued to flow as Shane Bennett’s point was responded to by O’Connor’s placed ball. Play was then broken up by the remaining substitutions before resuming with two more O’Connor pointed frees.

Nolan came out of his goalmouth in added time to send over a monster free for Waterford. However, Limerick had the final say as English scored with the final puck of the hour.

SCORERS: LIMERICK: Aidan O’Connor 0-12 (7 frees, 1 ’65’), Shane O’Brien 0-3, Gearóid Hegarty 0-2, Joe Fitzgerald, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, Fintan Fitzgerald, Ethan Hurley, Cathal O’Neill, Adam English 0-1 each; WATERFORD: Reuben Halloran 0-8 (7 frees), Billy Nolan 0-2 (2 frees), Seán Mackey, Jack Twomey, Jamie Barron, Jack Fagan, Shane Bennett 0-1 each.

LIMERICK: Colin Ryan; Vince Harrington, Barry Murphy, Eddie Stokes; Darragh Langan, William O’Donoghue, Matthew Fitzgerald; Joe Fitzgerald, Darragh O’Donoghue; Gearóid Hegarty, Aidan O’Connor, John English; Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, Shane O’Brien, Fintan Fitzgerald. SUBS: Seán Finn for Barry Murphy (injured, 17 minutes), Nickie Quaid for Colin Ryan (half-time), Colin Coughlan for Darragh Langan (half-time), Ethan Hurley for Joe Fitzgerald (half-time), Tom Morrissey for John English (half-time), Oisín O’Farrell for Shane O’Brien (haf-time), Cathal O’Neill for Fintan Fitzgerald (half-time), Hugh Flanagan for Donnacha Ó Dálaigh (41 minutes), Oisín O’Farrell for Shane O’Brien (41 minutes), Chris Thomas for Vince Harrington (48 minutes), Dylan O’Shea for Matthew Fitzgerald (48 minutes).

WATERFORD: Billy Nolan; Máirtín Power, Conor Prunty, PJ Fanning; Jack Fagan, Mark Fitzgerald, Shane Bennett; Darragh Lyons, Tom Barron; Séamus Fitzgerald, Reuben Halloran, Jack Twomey; Jamie Barron, Charlie Treen, Seán Mackey. SUBS: James Power for Jack Twomey (42 minutes), Brian Lynch for Fitzgerald (48 minutes), Marc Mahony for Charlie Treen (48 minutes), Michael Mullaney for Séamus Fitzgerald (54 minutes), Jack Lacey for Darragh Lyons (56 minutes), Evan Spellman for Shane Bennett (58 minutes).

REFEREE: John Bugler (Clare).