At the end of the most abnormal of years came the most deserving result.
For three years Limerick have been the most consistent hurling team in the country and this All-Ireland final performance proved it.
A long overdue Waterford triumph was the hope of the neutrals and the romantics, that Conor Prunty would emulate Frankie Walsh in lifting the Liam MacCarthy Cup, bridging that 61-year gap.
But plenty of the pre-match build-up was also about this Limerick team's need to win a second All-Ireland to confirm their greatness. Well, confirmation has arrived now, after the heartbreak of last year's All-Ireland semi-final loss to Kilkenny.
And this was mostly imperious stuff from the Treaty men, who picked off 24 points from play to comfortably see off Munster final opposition for the second time in an All-Ireland decider, mirroring Clare's achievement in 1997.
Hurler of the Year favourite Gearoid Hegarty helped himself to seven of them, tricky Tom Morrissey to five and in tandem they ran the Deise defence ragged.
Behind them, Kyle Hayes tore up and down the left flank, constantly finding space and using it brilliantly.
Aaron Gillane, who was only 50-50 to play with his bruised ribs, was John Kiely's marksman supreme with 10 points, including six from play.
Cian Lynch, the 2018 hurler of the year, orchestrated so much of it from the middle of the field and aptly, after another impressive display, captain Declan Hannon's victory speech praised the work of Irish healthcare staff on the pandemic frontline.
Limerick controlled things for most of the first half, powering themselves into a six-point lead by the 25th minute and again in the 33rd minute.
Waterford were ruing early missed goal chances, the best falling to Jack Fagan in the game's early moments.
But they clung onto Limerick's coat-tails, dependent on Stephen Bennett's frees to keep Limerick from cruising out of touch.
Although they lost the talismanic Tadhg De Burca to injury, they actually edged the second quarter by a point to go in at the half-time break with a three-point deficit to make up.
The feeling then was that the second half could be a classic, with Waterford growing in confidence. Could they repeat their sensational semi-final recovery against Kilkenny?
It wasn't to be, as it was Limerick tore into them from the restart, rattling off the first four points of the second half.
John Kiely's men never looked back after that as Waterford grew increasingly desperate, and when the Deise managed to get in position for shots on goal, Nickie Quaid was always there.
For Waterford, more heartbreak on the biggest stage of all. When they take some time to reflect they will realise how far they have come since the dark days of 2018 and 2019, when they went without a win in the championship over nine games and struggled to emerge from the Derek McGrath era.
“The Pope could have got the job and he wouldn’t compare to Derek,” wrote John Mullane, previewing the before last year's championship loss to Cork.
That was one of nine games without a win before Waterford finally got a win on the board against the Rebels at the end of October.
But Liam Cahill has done some job in turning things around this year and, if they can use this latest experience and harness their disappointment, they can come back stronger again next year.
Like the rest, though, they'll have this Limerick outfit to get past again. And just like the Dubs in the football, that's a fearsome prospect right now.
