I'm not a fan of comparing teams from different eras, but there is something from the 2010 Tipperary that the pretenders to Limerick’s crown could heed.

Back then, Tipperary stopped the last drive for five - so what are the contenders going to do to try and stop Limerick next year?

Of course, there’ll be all the usual stuff; go back training in November, hit the gym, hire a nutritionist and a sports psychologist, performance analysts, the works.

But you’ll only be running to a standstill at that because it’s taken for granted at the highest level; everyone has all of that in place.

If teams don’t think outside the box, I don’t see them closing in on Limerick.

In the close season ahead of the 2010 Championship, Liam Sheedy brought the Tipp lads to the Curragh, for example, to steel them for their next meeting with Kilkenny.

Cork strike me as a county that have the players to challenge strongly for an All-Ireland. Is Pat Ryan looking at throwing down the gauntlet to his players in that fashion to toughen them mentally for the challenge of taking Limerick down?

There’s still room for the old school approach in places. The commando-type training in an unusual setting like the Curragh is just a random example. It could be anything - the point is that teams need to do something different if they are to take Limerick down.

You know what they say about the definition of insanity and all that.

Sheedy ran a tight ship and raised the bar to such a level that it allowed his players to believe that they could compete with and beat Kilkenny. After their near miss in 2009, they were primed going into the following season.

Who’s primed for 2023? Looking at Leinster, not Galway, Wexford or Dublin, while the nature of last Sunday’s beating will surely have knocked Kilkenny’s belief to some degree.

In Munster, Waterford have flopped so often in recent years that you couldn’t have confidence in them. Tipperary and Cork have shown progress of late, to be fair, but the team most closely aligned with Tipp back in 2010 is Clare.

Remember, Limerick have to go to Ennis in Munster next year. It’s a long way out, but it’s a game that Clare would need to be winning if they have serious ambitions.

Similar with Cork, who will welcome Limerick to Pairc Ui Chaoimh. If they can’t take them down in their own backyard, what chance do they have in Croke Park?

Those games could be key, particularly given how close Limerick were to dropping out in Munster this year.

But the likes of Brian Lohan and Ryan need to use the time wisely between now and then, and bring something different to the table.

Outside of the parallel with what Tipperary did in 2010, comparisons with Limerick’s four-in-a-row team and Kilkenny’s this week have been irritating.

It’s quite simple - if this Limerick team played Kilkenny in 2006-09, with the brand of hurling that was played back then, Kilkenny would win. And Limerick 2020-23 would beat Kilkenny at the modern-day game.

Just leave the comparisons out of it - neither side is better or worse than the other.

2023 TEAM OF THE YEAR

This always spark huge debate, but I’m satisfied that the team we selected on the Sunday Game last weekend was the right one.

Eoin Murphy’s last gasp save against Clare just swings it for him ahead of Nickie Quiad in goal.

Barry Nash is somewhat unlucky in the full-back line though I felt he was subdued for much of the year, while Adam Hogan and Mike Casey didn’t do much wrong.

Will O’Donoghue may only have played two games at centre-back but John Conlon had a poor Munster final and the only other No 6 with strong claims, for me, was Richie Reid. Ciaran Joyce is worthy of a mention, however.

David Fitzgerald had another great year and would have had a shout for Hurler of the Year had the semi-final worked out better for him and Clare.

Tom Morrissey and Shane O’Donnell are nailed down in the half-forward line, and then it’s one from TJ Reid or Tony Kelly. But Kelly loses out on the basis of another poor showing in Croke Park.

The full-forward line, meanwhile, picks itself.

TEAM OF THE YEAR: Eoin Murphy (Kilkenny); Mikey Butler (Kilkenny), Huw Lawlor (Kilkenny), Dan Morrissey (Limerick); Diarmaid Byrnes (Limerick), Will O’Donoghue (Limerick), Kyle Hayes (Limerick); Darragh O’Donovan (Limerick), David fitzgerald (Clare); Tom Morrissey (Limerick), TJ Reid (Kilkenny), Shane O’Donnell (Clare); Conor Whelan (Galway), Aaron Gillane (Limerick), Eoin Cody (Kilkenny).

GAME OF THE YEAR

There were a lot of dead ducks in the round robin stage this year, particularly in Leinster.

But the Limerick-Cork game was one where everything was on the line, a knockout tie in everything but name.

Cork started well but Limerick found their groove. They went six ahead and it looked for all the world that they were home and hosed. But Cork got a goal and, all of a sudden, it was game on again.

The drama was supplemented by what was going up the road in Thurles between Tipperary and Waterford.

The permutations changed hands so often over the course of the afternoon and it all fed into an electric atmosphere at the Gaelic Grounds.

It was a thrilling climax in Leinster earlier that day as Dublin stepped in and out of the Leinster final, while Wexford teetered on the brink of the Joe McDonagh Cup.

It was the most dramatic day of the Championship - and the Limerick-Cork game, where the margins were so tight, ultimately had the biggest impact on the destination of the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

MANAGERIAL MERRY GO ROUND

There was any amount of high profile managerial vacancies in hurling 12 months ago, though not so much at the moment.

Wexford are on the lookout for a new manager after parting company with Darragh Egan but that’s it among the top tier counties for now.

Waterford have placed their father in Davy Fitzgerald for another year and there are a few managers, like Liam Cahill, Pat Ryan and Micheal Donoghue, who have only completed their first season. Brian Lohan will surely get another year in Clare if he wants it.

I’d wonder about Henry Shefflin in Galway, however. He said himself that they haven’t made the progress he would have liked. Might that lengthy round trip from South Kilkenny be too much to take on for a third year?

We’ll find out soon enough.

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