Richie Bennis, face flushed florid by the sun and the excitement, was in full flow. Around him the crowd of journalists and onlookers swelled and pressed.

"There were a lot of decisions that Tipperary got, that we didn't get," said Richie but in a voice which testified that it didn't matter. His boys mattered. "They were mighty today. They spoke themselves at half-time. We had to say nothing. They were brilliant. Every one of those players stood up and were counted."

And as their reward?

Ripping a goal into the Tipperary net at the death. Richie's jubilation had barely had time to subside.

"I thought that we had won the lotto," he grinned, but his thoughts turn to Damien Reale and that first-half sending off. "One decision went against us today. We should have got it. I thought well, I'll say nothing about it because I'll say too much.

"I didn't see the second thing, but the first thing the Tipperary man was the offender and our man retaliated which he shouldn't have.

"We came good though. We showed character. Next week we'll show character again.The players said what had to be said at half-time though. They stood up, to a man and said, we want to hurl for Damien Reale the captain. It took a bit out of me, but it was one of the best days of my sporting life."

Séamus Hickey, Limerick's corner back whose day included a spell trailing Eoin Kelly, echoed his manager's thoughts on Damien Reale's dismissal. Some teams would have court martialed their captain, but Reale's history spared him any recrimination.

"It was more for him than anything that we drew that game," said Hickey. "He is an inspirational player. One of the best corner backs in the country. To lose him was tough, but it was an inspiration to do it for him."

Out in the sunshine at the fringes of the pitch Ollie Moran's progress towards the showers is still being impeded by well-wishers and media. Ollie has seen plenty in the green jersey of Limerick. He was happy, but cautious.

"Three or four points down with a few minutes left it didn't look too good," he said philosophically. "We lived to fight another day. Our forwards worked extremely hard. No athlete out there will survive that level of intensity in that heat.

"We said for the last few months, though, that we needed to work harder. It was something we tried to address today. It takes the strain of being a man down."

Moran's five points from play would have been ample contribution to any cause, but it was he who pulled down the high ball from Brian Geary late on to set up Limerick's goal. Nothing else on his mind as he went for it?

"Nothing on my mind. Pat is getting goals like that for a long time. He is an impact sub, he did the same against Tipp a few years ago, came on and scored a few points. You need to have the composure, to beat Brendan Cummins any day it has to be a fair shot. It was a great goal."

Tobin had come on in the first half for Seán O'Connor, still visibly hindered by injury. He had contributed a point some 10 minutes previously as the game hurtled like a juggernaut.

"We never give up," he said, "15 men or 14 men or 13 men, we never give up. With the extra man they looked comfortable, but in Munster championship hurling things don't cross your mind about how they are doing. We know our turn would come. We never thought Tipp were going to pull away."

Outside the Tipperary dressingroom door, Babs Keating held court briefly. It behoves the manager whose team has surrendered the lead in a drawn game to be unhappy. Babs was unhappy. He was talking about the battling qualities of the teams at the death.

"The Limerick lads gained too many balls for our liking. Too many balls coming out into our area. Lads looking for the easy touch too much."

Babs didn't point to the infirmary for excuses, but he could have if he'd wanted to. Tipperary's injury list was bad and even Eoin Kelly wasn't blasting at full throttle.

"Eoin got injured and is only back training two weeks ago. We couldn't justify playing him on the wing with the fitness he is at. We gave him a break on the frees, Willie Ryan is excellent with them so it wasn't a decision to leave him off either.

"Lar Corbett? (who came on at half-time) Lar hadn't 70 minutes hurling in him, he got the injury against Dublin and then bronchitis. Paul Curran won't be back. We'll regroup. We've had to do it before and we'll do it again."

And so to the replay next week. The optimism flows from Limerick now. Pat Tobin talked about Limerick's vast vocal support.

"Thurles? No problem," he laughed. "Loads of trains!"