Not many people outside Waterford could possibly feel unhappy that Limerick are back in an All Ireland final.

The hurling world rejoices that this great traditional county . . . home of the Mackeys, Jackie Power, Paddy Scanlan, Paddy Clohessy, Tom McGarry, Eamonn Cregan, the Quaids, the Hartigans, Ciaran Carey, Richie Bennis and Gary Kirby . . .is in the spotlight again, this time for all the right reasons.

I sincerely hope that no Waterford player rushes to announce, or even contemplate, retirement. Although the Munster champions can offer plenty of valid reasons as to why they failed to win last Sunday, it shouldn't be forgotten that they still came within touching distance of reaching an All Ireland final . . . and this after two gruelling meetings with Cork on the previous two Sundays. Who knows what might have happened had they got the rub of the green in the closing stages seven days ago and progressed to meet Kilkenny, the team they beat in the National League final? Who can say that Waterford would not have gone on to do the double? This Waterford team were capable of that, no mistake.

Had they done so, all the questions would have been answered.

The Waterford players must stay positive; if not, their All Ireland day will never come. Let's not forget that they're the National League and Munster champions. The county would have settled for that at any time in the past 40 years up to this season. But in the wake of Sunday's defeat, a postmortem is inevitable.

While Limerick were the better team, Waterford may put forward a number of extenuating circumstances. Playing on three Sundays in a row is unquestionably a big ask, particularly against well-rested opponents. You have to say, however, that the Deise were the authors of their own misfortune here. Put simply, they were a better team than Cork this season, yet they still ended up going to a replay in the All Ireland quarter-final after making numerous well-documented mistakes in the drawn game. They should have been able to see off a Cork team minus Niall McCarthy at the first time of asking. Had they done so, they too would have been well rested for the semi-final. Though this wouldn't have guaranteed them success, obviously, it would have eliminated the fatigue factor.

Waterford have Justin McCarthy, one of the greats of hurling both on and off the field. They also have an excellent backroom team and one of the best collection of players they have ever assembled. But with the benefit of hindsight, they all must have the courage to face up to some painful hard facts. Some of the calls made on the field and off it in the drawn game with Cork were misguided.

Difficult as it might seem, the only way of solving a problem is by firstly recognising that it does exist, then moving to tackle it. What has to be really worrying for Waterford is that they've been dogged by these problems year after year, and especially in All Ireland semifinals. Repetition of error is the perfection of mistakes.

After a Herculean effort in cutting a 10-point deficit down to a point, despite the concession of morale-sapping goals, Waterford reverted to type and blasted 17 wides, many of them at critical stages.

This proved an obstacle too far for them.

It wasn't a good idea to start Eoin Kelly, who had belted over a string of fine points from midfield in the Cork replay, at centre-forward before eventually switching him back to midfield. It consequently took Kelly until the 58th to register a score. Too late. Constantly switching the forwards, a la Kilkenny, worked well for Waterford up to and including the Munster final but hasn't fully worked since. They probably would have been better settling on their optimum midfield and forward line and leaving them to it. Their runner in the yellow bib, who seemed to be constantly on removing Flynn at a critical stage last Sunday looked misguided.

Andrew O'Shaughnessy, the RTE man of the match, clearly had the Indian sign over his old colleges' colleague Aidan Kearney; he probably has since his college days. It's a confidence thing. Kearney can hold his head high. Both he and Seamus Hickey are the most exciting young defenders in the country.

Brian Begley (left), who's improving with every outing, had a hand in four of Limerick's five goals, creating one and scoring another from the only two high balls delivered directly to the edge of the square in the second half. Mike O'Brien, who will never be accused of being a poser, was everywhere at midfield and gave his opponents no chance to settle. Donie Ryan typified the winners' all-action style and fed off Begley for his two goals.

One of Limerick's most important attributes is their balance of liveliness and strength.

Stephen Lucey, Brian Geary, Mark Foley, O'Brien, Ollie Moran and Begley provide the strength. Damien Reale, Hickey, Donal O'Grady, Ryan and O'Shaughnessy provide the speed around the pitch. It's a nice combinathe field, may have been more of a disruption than a help.

The Limerick corner-backs were outstanding with Seamus Hickey, my man of the match, absolutely brilliant. Whatever about Waterford's frustration with their misfiring full-forward line, I do think that taking off Paul Flynn was an error. Consider the signal that the sight of him and John Mullane being substituted transmitted both to their colleagues and to Limerickf Besides, Flynn is always good for a goal, no matter how badly he's playing.

He was a constant threat to Cork in the second half of the drawn All Ireland quarterfinal.

Remember the power of his shot that led to Stephen Molumphy's goal?

Remember the many famous goals Flynn has scored from placed balls in big games over the years? Selectors are close to the team and therefore must know best. Still, tion of virtues. I do wonder where Paul O'Grady has gone, mind you. He has played some excellent games on beaten demoralised Limerick teams and was always good for a couple of points from out the field.

In retrospect, the three games against Tipperary proved exactly the right start to the championship season for Richie Bennis's troops. Limerick have learned more about themselves in three months than many teams learn in a lifetime.

This has to stand them in good stead for the final, as has the determination of the players, who must have been fed up with the talk about the county's All Ireland under-21 three-in-a-row, to create their own future instead of continuing to live in the past. The value of Dave Keane's contribution with the under21s is now being fully seen. Limerick's resurgence shows that lack of talent was never an issue in the county. What was lacking instead was order, unity, maturity and leadership. They have those qualities now . . . and a confident team that's capable of winning an All Ireland.

Well done to Roscommon and Armagh on the standard of the hurling they served up in the Nicky Rackard Cup final, an excellent game full of fine scoring. That's a second national hurling trophy for Roscommon recently following their All Ireland under-21 B success. Great stuff.