Derek Lyng rues Kilkenny failure to put a spoke in Green Machine's wheels

There was a memorable advertisement in the 1990s that involved the drinkers of a certain soft drink receiving a slow-motion slap in the face from a man in orange.

We can now update the slogan to 'You know when you've been Limericked'.

Galway went six points up against the champions in the All-Ireland hurling semi-final but lost by nine.

Kilkenny tore into the Treaty in Sunday's final, outworking them in a first half they won by three points, but also lost by nine as Limerick racked up three unanswered scoring sprees totalling 16 points in as many minutes.

Nobody, it seems, can withstand the second-half surge when it feels like the Treaty are winning every puckout and splitting the posts with every shot.

"It's not enjoyable anyway," said Cats boss Derek Lyng. "You’re trying to look at make a few changes, see if you can stop the momentum in some shape and fashion.

"They will always come at you and I was expecting that to happen. It was just about maybe getting one or two scores around that time just to stop it. It's very, very easy to say that. We just found it difficult. We probably weren't efficient enough with some of the chances that we got.

"I felt that maybe a few of the 50-50 calls went Limerick's way. And we needed them. We needed everything. We maybe needed one of those frees around that period just to stem the tide. When they get a run on you, it's very, very difficult to stop it.

"I think nine points is harsh on us"

"I was really happy [with the first half] and we needed that. Very hard to maintain it. They are such a strong, physical team and they keep coming at you. You could really see some of our players tiring in the second half.

"You have to have the intensity, you have to have the work-rate around the pitch but