Socially distanced celebrations were in place this weekend as Limerick triumphed over Waterford to win the Liam MacCarthy cup.
Videos have been circulating on social media of locals blasting their horns across the city to express their delight.
For them, the All-Ireland hurling victory at Covid-hit Croke Park was the perfect antidote to a catastrophic year.
Munster hurling’s GAA anthems such as You’re A Lady penned by Denis Allen and Dreams by The Cranberries were also bellowed out from apartment windows and pubs across the county.
Fan Dave McGrath said: “It was brilliant and it was nerve-wracking. Gearoid Hegarty was absolutely supreme, as was Seamus Flanagan and Kyle Hayes – there’s at least another two or three All-Ireland’s in that team, easily, without a shadow of a doubt.”
Noel Bowman and his daughter Beverly Mullins, from Mungret, took in the atmosphere at Katie Daly’s tourist pub in the heart of King’s Island historical quarter to see their team blitz Waterford 0-30 to 0-19.
The 50-year-old said: “It was brilliant, incredible and being the year that it was, the GAA kept us going, they’ve been superb.
“I said it from the start, there was no one that could touch Limerick and they hadn’t yet burst into their full stretch at all.
“Waterford had beaten a very bad Kilkenny team in the semi-final. Most of the teams in the country were second best to Kilkenny for years, but there’s a new era now.”
Ms Mullins, 22, was also overjoyed at Limerick’s win, adding: “It was a great match, great to win it again, |just brilliant and it was a different atmosphere, but we’re still all together. We’ll have to wait until next year to be in Croke Park again, we hope.”
Saoirse Cooney, 23, from Childers Road, also watched from the pub and said: “I’m absolutely delighted, it’s been a terrible year and do you know what, we’ve really brought it back now with this win. Thank God, we love our county – the best county in the world.
“It was fantastic stuff, really great.
“We were up 11 points at the end, I’m not surprised they knocked it out of the park and I’m so proud to be from this city.”
Another pubgoer Sean Nolan, from Claughaun, said: “We are absolutely spoilt to have a team like that, I’m all goosebumps. It’s unbelievable, this is the best day of the year. In the year that it has been today is, hands down, the best day of 2020.
“I’m the proudest man in the world, it’s unbelievable.”
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