Munster Hurling Championship: Babs Keating said it was old style, and in terms of outcome and commitment it was. Thurles has seen plenty of better hurling but for two teams who came to town with their cases unproven that scarcely mattered. Tipperary hurled well and mugged Limerick, who had been slight favourites.

Limerick burst from the stalls and had two goals in the Tipperary net before things were settled. Those moments of fleeting glory served only to highlight how abject the remainder of their performance was.

Tipp were level at half-time and would have been well ahead were it not for the fact that nobody apart from Kelly knew where the posts were.

Limerick's midfield seemed to have disappeared in a daring double abduction while their half-forward line were operating like men under cover. Nothing conspicuous. Nothing anybody would notice. The full-forward line, which had gorged on those two early goals, began to starve.

And Tipp had something else. They had the belief passed down through generations. Once they got a scent of the possible they played with conviction. Old style, as Babs said. Old style.

Just before lunchtime Tipperary got off their bus and walked up to St Patrick's College. Old priests watching the broths arrive cried.

"It reminded them," said Babs, "of the students walking up the laneway. The old values were restored today. This is Tipperary championship hurling.

"This is the obligation we have to bring forward. In 30 years' time we have an obligation to have a Tipp and Limerick first round again with a new Eoin Kelly playing."

And why not? So long as there are Eoin Kellys playing the game there will be hurling. Yesterday Kelly was transcendent; he more than accounted for the difference between the two sides. He had a goal disallowed but scored 14 points anyway. He was coming off a hamstring injury and conceded a little shyly that he wasn't 100 per cent yet.

Maybe. If he cruises through the championship at this level of excellence he will have wrapped up his fifth All Star award before the end of June. If he gets any better there is a case for giving him a few All Star awards this year, as advance payment.

Kelly himself has had enough hard years in blue and gold to have learned the value of caution. He was happily conservative in his outlook.

"We're in the same position as last year," he said. "We beat Limerick last year after a replay and went on and beat Clare and everything was going grand, the support was there and then we lost a Munster final. We didn't want that to happen. There's a lesson to be learned."

That's a theme with Tipp. Learning. They knew enough yesterday not to panic after 10 minutes.

"Championship is different from league," said Kelly. "Even a point is a bigger buzz. We knew that. We were missing my brother Paul and Benny Dunne today. Lar Corbett is coming back in. There's three experienced players. We need that.

"That's a great win today. It gives the followers who were doubting us something to believe in but it's nothing to get carried away about."

He talked on. About Tipp and how they have been training since last November not to be competitive in championship but to win. About how tight-knit they have become. About how much belief is there.

His own remarkable deeds scarcely seems to have left a trace in his memory. Fourteen points, nine of them from play. It's the sort of work that entitles a man to retire to glory.

"Ah, I was pleased. It went well. I suppose I haven't had the best preparation, I pulled up two or three weeks ago. We were told to attack the ball, to make our mistakes, to up the work rate. That did the confidence some good."

Brendan Cummins loitered in the corridor which links the dressingrooms in Semple Stadium. Early on he had been against the ropes as Limerick came out shooting at the whites of his eyes.

"We were a little bit punch drunk alright," he said. "We were dragged all over the place and we couldn't do anything for a while. We cleared our heads and the guys out the field upped the work rate and made a huge difference."

Cummins has worked this particular block for long enough though to know a couple of early goals do not a summer make.

"Hurling is such that after 12 or 13 minutes even if we'd conceded a third goal there was a way back. Thankfully, that's the way it worked out. Eoin is like that every day of the week. It's about making sure he has space."

"It's only one game. It's important now to keep our feet on the ground. Waterford are waiting in the long grass. Tuesday night we'll get back and focus on the training."

Fourteen points tend to be a tonic for the morale.

Tipperary are off and running and with an ailing Waterford team in their way they can see a Munster final in the distance.

Not what we expected when we set out for Thurles but we should have known.

Babs. Tipp. Old Style. We should have known.