GAELIC GAMES:Biff! Pow! Two swift blows ended all daydreams and welcomed Limerick back to reality like a bracing dunk in an ice bath. Kilkenny don't do soft underbelly stuff and their 30th All-Ireland success was delivered in as ruthless a fashion as any of the preceding 29.

Finals to epic seasons aren't supposed to be like this but then again we have sucked so much enjoyment out of this rip-roaring hurling summer that it was no harm yesterday to just sit back and enjoy a study in excellence, to watch a Kilkenny team with no weak links add the last emphatic punctuation mark to a season of romance, tragedy and joy.

It was too much and too heartbreaking for Limerick. Their consolations appear scant this morning but will seem more substantial in time. They have come a long, long way in a short space of time. They endured a nightmare start yesterday but never folded the tents. They were closer to Kilkenny after 70 minutes than they were after nine minutes.

That wasn't close to the Liam MacCarthy Cup at all but that's for another day. Yesterday Kilkenny were irresistible and they did as all great teams do, they did unto others what others would hope to do unto them. They hit harder. They scored early. They never flagged.

It was an exhibition of power, a demonstration of the possibilities of empire. Before the game they added the name of Richie Hogan, the teenage prodigy to their list of substitutes. Not because they needed him. Just because they could. In the first half they lost the services of their iron hard full back Noel Hickey and their genius-in-residence Henry Shefflin. They sent in more troops. The losses never threatened to be devastating.

Poor Limerick. All plans and schemes in hurling are complicated by the presence of the other team. There is nothing more complicated than hurling against Kilkenny. There is nothing more pressurised either.

The Limerick half backs who had delivered such a splendid service to their full forward line in the semi-final against Waterford were reduced yesterday to slapping the ball out like teenagers working in an understaffed fast food chain during the busy period.

The full forward line which wrought such damage in Croke Park just a few weeks ago was held scoreless from play.

Kilkenny on the other hand had options everywhere. When Willie O'Dwyer was deemed not to be contributing enough to the general haymaking he was pulled off in the first half and replaced by no less a presence than Richie Power. Limerick meanwhile were looking aghast as Seamus Hickey, their strong contender for young hurler of the year, was being left dazed and confused by Eddie Brennan who left Croke Park with 1-5 from play.

Brennan, who looked some time ago as if he were about to drop out of sight as the conveyor belt of talent in Kilkenny offered more and more options to Brian Cody, has re-established himself at the very top. He has become the most ruthless of opponents. Feather-footed and iron- shouldered. Every time he went near the ball yesterday he caused havoc in the Limerick defence.

It's odd that in the face of Brennan's excellence there could be any debate about who was the player of the game. With Kilkenny in such irresistible form though, perhaps these things are inevitable. Jackie Tyrrell devoured Andrew O' Shaughnessy as effortlessly as a whale consuming plankton while the spiky Tommy Walsh underlined his emphatic claim for the Hurler of the Year award with a typically combative performance which he decorated with two fine points.

For Limerick, after those devastating first ten minutes, hope only flickered briefly. Ollie Moran's second half goal should have brought the crowd into play but they were silenced seconds later by Tommy Walsh's second point, a wondrous angled strike from 70 yards. Limerick knew then, if not before, it wasn't to be.

They might reflect that even those things which seemed like lucky breaks for them turned out to be further harbingers of their doom. Brian Cody intimated as much afterwards. "We lost Noel Hickey early on. He is a savage player for us. Noel pulling up took a bit of rearranging.

"Discovering that Henry was gone was fairly crucifying. Noel is Noel and Henry is Henry. They don't grow on trees. They don't grow at all lads like them. We always speak of our panel. What we have there.

"We were okay. Henry was moving really well. Came in to discover he was gone. Henry lifted the dressingroom. Noel lifted the dressingroom. The players took it on, a massive mission. They wanted so badly to send Henry up those steps."

While Kilkenny were lifting themselves to even greater heights. Limerick were figuring a way back into the match. They had the will but not the means.

"We came here saying we'd try not to concede goals and then two go in straight away," said midfielder Donal O Grady.

"We fought to the death. Even with two minutes to go there was no head down. Ollie got a great goal but we hit a few long distance wides instead of getting the ball in low. We've made progress but at the end of the year we have been beaten in a Munster final and an All-Ireland final. Bits of useless timber, runners-up stuff. Hopefully next year we can take a step forward."

Next year! Within minutes of the final whistle Brian Cody was deflecting questions about the three in a row stating firmly that it is a mirage which doesn't interest him particularly. Maybe not, but the suspicion is that he will continue anyway

"What else would you be doing?" he laughed when asked about what keeps driving him. "I feel better right now than you do. You think we are boring but being involved with a team like that . . . you can't touch that elation. Being involved with players who give it all, all the time, is something special."

Yesterday they gave back something special. You could see what keeps driving them. Excellence and the pursuit.