Kilkenny dethroned champions Limerick at Croke Park last night to propel themselves into the All-Ireland final for the first time in three years.
The Cats held off a second half surge by John Kiely’s side, with Eoin Murphy making a crucial injury-time save from David Reidy for a much-needed victory for Brian Cody’s side.
“We missed it so much,” said TJ Reid, who scored nine points of Kilkenny’s 1-21 total. “The last time we were here was 2016.
“Today it was about savage work-rate and a massive effort from everyone, from everyone who started and from the subs. It was unbelievable work-rate.
“They’re All-Ireland champions and if you don’t out-work them, they’re going to beat you on the scoreboard.
“In the second half we went four or five points ahead and Shane Dowling got a goal and it went down to the final whistle.
“But we’ve got an All-Ireland final now in three weeks’ time.”
After winning a 16th All-Ireland semi-final as Cats supremo, Cody said: “Well the prize is huge, the prize for today was to get to the All-Ireland final and obviously we knew that the opposition was serious, they were All-Ireland champions.
“We knew we had to be competitive to give ourselves a chance and we were, and to finish ahead is very satisfying.”
Limerick skipper Declan Hannon was forced off at half-time after failing to recover from a heavy knock to the chest after 15 minutes.
But supremo John Kiely insisted a four-week lay-off from the Munster final hadn’t left Limerick stumbling out of the blocks.
“Not at all, we were ready,” he said. “Yes, they brought ferocious intensity to that first quarter but we felt very comfortable at half-time. When you're ten points to two down after 17 minutes you leave yourself a mountain to climb.
“It took us a while to settle in, Kilkenny got on a platform they were very comfortable with and had a headstart.
“The challenge then was for us to reduce the gap.
“We were probably looking for that one opening to come to get level. Had we done that we might have pushed on, but it wasn’t to be.”
Kiely said that he knew “straightaway” that a last minute Darragh O’Donovan sideline cut had taken a deflection off a Kilkenny player and should have been a Limerick ‘65 instead of a Cats’ puck-out.
He said: “We could see by the flight of the ball it had changed direction, but what can you do? It was missed and that was it.”
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