1994. 1996. The terrible days when Limerick were close enough to see their reflection in the cup, but just lost out.

Manager John Kiely appraised those games from his perspective back then, as a very interested spectator.

(“Extended panel in ’94. I was on the bench in ’96.”).

“They were games where Limerick had put themselves in good positions.

“Just a number of incidents occurred in each of them that are hard to legislate for.

In ’94 it was just maybe we failed to retain a couple of possessions that if we had got one or two more vital points, we could have stemmed the momentum that Offaly had on the day and would have broke their momentum.

“We failed to break their momentum. When you get momentum at a key stage in a game like that, it can be ferociously difficult to break that momentum.

“And then against Wexford (1996), we had an injury to Owen O’Neill, he had an exceptional year for us and he scored loads of goals.

“He had a bad ankle injury going into it. Seán (O’Neill) got injured at the outset. And Gary Kirby got injured subsequently.

And that knocked the team’s rhythm. It broke the team’s rhythm.

“And that was a big factor I think on that occasion.”

And the famous free in 1994?

“You see it, but what can you do about it? It was just one of those things. They were difficult. At the time they were difficult. But they’re history now. They have no bearing on what’s going to happen the next day. These boys (current team) could do nothing about anything that happened before them. That’s a fact. So all they can influence is their own destiny, their own performance. And sure, it just has no relevance to them.

There is no tangible link that you could possibly create that would link the past with this group. So it’s all about getting their performance right, getting their preparation right. And trying to reap some reward for all the hard work that they’ve put in.

When did he feel something special was on the way this year?

“Would you believe it, above in Offaly, at the league game. Just got that feeling that day that there was an extra spark there. I think from that game onwards we grew in confidence from game to game.

When you have confidence, and you have the work done, you know there is a chance to at least give yourself the opportunity to win matches.

“And we’d a lot of work done. It wasn’t like we’d had a terrible season [in 2017]. Okay, the results didn’t go our way and we didn’t get good championship performances - they were ‘six out of 10’ performances. But we knew if we got it up another notch or two we could have been very competitive. We only lost to Kilkenny by three points in Nowlan Park. That’s not a bad performance. Having had 18 or 19 wides... we let a chance slip that night.

“During the course of the league we felt momentum building.”

The momentum is rolling along now. A day doesn’t go by without news of a jersey shortage in Limerick or some other indicator of the hype in the county, but Kiely’s unaffected by that background noise.

I‘ve been away from it. Sure I live outside in Galbally in the foothills of the Galtee Mountains and I don’t meet anyone from one end of the day to the next.

“They’re all afraid to come near my door! I’ve been off with the school holidays for the last six weeks though I’ve been going in and out to work the last few days — we have a building project going on in school — and there are a few other bits and pieces to look after also.

“But generally speaking, I wouldn’t be in too much circulation. It’s easy. I just have my own routine and I stick to my own routine.”

And the players?

“We like them to stick to their own routine as well. Do what they always do and stick to that. They’re young, most of them are frightful young.

And they’re all great friends together so they hang out a lot together off the pitch anyway. It’s not a big deal at all now. It is flying along. It’s not a burden at all.

The other topic we warmed up to? Galway. He went to Thurles for the replay to see them up close again.

“A great game of hurling. Probably a lot more tense, both teams had a lot of wides. Both defended very well, looking at the scoreline. The wides were for a reason because there was pressure on. I thought it was quite defensive. An intriguing game. It could have gone either way.”

A fair prediction for Sunday?