Dónal Óg Cusack's Hurling Nation: The All-Ireland final preview

Before we know if we will even have a summer this year, the ding for the All-Ireland final is sounded.

One last great blow-out and inter-county hurling is over until next spring. All we can do is hope that in the long run the GAA starts to look after hurling the way they should and in the short-term pray that this perfect match-up between Limerick and Kilkenny gives us another epic final to remember.

If you'd asked us at the final ding of last year's championship what we would wish from this year's edition, we would have said a classic final between Limerick and Kilkenny would suit just fine.

We've had a climax so complex and nuanced that looking forward to it is nearly as good as watching it.

Remember last year? We raised Limerick's right arm into the air and announced them the still undefeated champions, a team for the ages.

Winners write the headlines of history and they were glorious winners. But Kilkenny scored 2-26 that day, more than any losing side have ever scored in an All-Ireland final and they scored that against a fully manned Limerick defence.

Limerick hit the 30 points mark for the third All-Ireland final in a row though. Their half-forward line with Kyle Hayes filling in for Cian Lynch gave a performance that broke Kilkenny hearts.

They scored 1-14 between them but their brilliance was personified by Gearoid Hegarty who gave us the best in a series of outstanding final performances from him.

He scored 1-05, shot two wides, had nine successful passes and 11 more possessions than the best Cats had.

We need your consent to load this rte-player content We use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to