Goals in either half from Richie Hogan and Eoin Larkin sent luckless Limerick packing on an evening of cinematic drama at Croke Park: 2-13 to 0-17.

It was hairy at times but the long and the short of it all is that in four weeks' time Kilkenny will face either Tipperary or Cork in the 2014 All-Ireland SHC final. The big three still stand. How and why that happened is largely irrelevant…

After a run of five successive points, the losers led by two with 15 minutes left, 0-16 to 1-11, but, like Batman, Brian Cody's Kilkenny always seem to find a way.

An unforgettable evening at GAA HQ. Like a scene from a wildlife documentary, a National Geographic snapshot: with sheets of ferocious, angry rain teeming down, players from either side bounced off each other like stags as the Treaty men led by a point at the three-quarters stage, 0-15 to 1-11.

There were big cats and underdogs here to bear witness to the tail-end of Hurricane Bertha. And mammoths. The ark was on standby, but 45,478 didn't want to depart. The falcon had split, spooked. Took the whistle with him.

A brilliant Shane Dowling free doubled the gap, but the Black & Amber wrested back the lead when Larkin in turn doubled onto a Hogan free to plunder the Cats' second major in the 56th minute.

The underdogs had led for virtually the entire first half but were stunned when Hogan slammed an unstoppable shot to the corner of the net at the Hill 16 end 20 seconds into injury time to give the winners an unlikely 1-9 to 0-10 interval advantage.

It was cruel on the Treaty County, who'd led by 0-10 to 0-7 after half an hour of hearty hurling in horrible conditions and who came agonisingly close to scrambling a goal of their own deep into first-half added time.

With five of their forwards on target and all six scores coming from play, the beaten Munster finalists trumped by 0-6 to 0-4 after 15 minutes.

Nobody on Jones' Road was shocked when the rain started shortly before throw-in (which was delayed for 15 minutes due to extra time being played in the minor match) and it became so dark during the first half that the floodlights had to be switched on. It's been that kind of August and the players were undoubtedly braced for a wet day. But perhaps not such a theatrical one.

Respective managers Brian Cody and TJ Ryan aren't known for their messing so it was another non-shock when both teams started as selected, the rain spilling down in straight lines. A couple of early Kilkenny attacks yielded wides but Adare's Declan Hannon punctuated the Treaty County's maiden attack with a fantastic point in the third minute. So it began.

Captain Donal O'Grady scooped up the sliothar to double the gap in the fourth minute but Colin Fennelly replied immediately after taking a pass from older brother Michael. It was 0-2 each on six minutes, TJ Reid calmly despatching a 60-metre free between the enraptured Hill 16 posts from beneath the Hogan Stand.

All three members of the Limerick half-forward line had registered by the eighth minute, David Breen tagging on their third point of the day before a frantic passage of play - where the commitment from both sets of players was beyond question - culminated in a great Graeme Mulcahy point on eleven minutes.

Splendid strikes off their left from Colin Fennelly and Padraig Walsh had the Cats level by the 13th minute but Shane Dowling quickly became the fifth Limerick forward to score: 0-5 to 0-4 fourteen minutes in. Hannon surged through the middle to provide the Shannonsiders' sixth score.

Colin Fennelly took his third point after Dowling clipped over a routine Limerick free from in front of the posts bit Mulcahy's 24th-minute effort restored the underdogs' three-point cushion, 0-8 to 0-5. Michael Fennelly's perseverance was rewarded with a sixth point for the Leinster champions and Cats 'keeper David Herity was in the right place at the right time to block Dowling's goalbound flick.

Dowling and Reid traded frees. The former was causing JJ Delaney all sorts of trouble and he improvised brilliantly on the half-hour to bat over a sensational one-handed point off his right - 0-10 to 0-7. But Michael Fennelly and Padraig Walsh responded with two Kilkenny points in as many minutes before Hogan stepped up in injury time and buried his shot into the bottom left corner of the net to give the Cats the lead for the first time.

Colin Fennelly stretched the gap upon the resumption and the Treaty responded with a Dowling '65' after Herity had diverted Browne's shot. Reid was content to take his point from a 20-metre free on 40 minutes (1-11 to 0-11) and Herity was called upon again, this time denying Breen from an acute angle.

Hannon claimed his third point after Herity batted away substitute Seanie Tobin's weak effort and a handling error by the Cats custodian almost gifted the 2013 Munster champions a goal ten minutes into the second half.

Limerick were level by the 50th minute: Dowling tapped over a free and then, as torrential rain hammered a persistent pattern across the pitch, Hannon equalised after collecting a short free from Dowling, with the Kilkenny defence caught napping. Tobin's effort almost dropped into the net but went over the bar for the lead point in the 51st minute: Limerick 0-15, Kilkenny 1-11.

Henry Shefflin came off the bench…

Dowling made a mockery of the atrocious conditions as he nailed a sensational free for his seventh score to leave two between them but Larkin's goal 14 minutes from the end put the battle-hardened Cats back into the lead before Reid's free on the hour made it 2-12 to 0-16.

The exceptional Hannon slotted his fifth point nine minutes from the end to make it a one-point match again and there was controversy in the 66th minute when Kilkenny substitute Richie Power was deliberately tripped by the diving Donal O'Grady's outstretched hurl as he bore down on goal. A penalty and a red card? No - a free and no card!

Reid stroked over the close-range free to put two between the teams and that's how it remained. With Limerick needing a goal, Paul Murphy cleared a dangerous delivery in the second minute of added time and the Cats held on for a dramatic victory.

The twist at the end was that there would be no twist. Christopher Nolan eat your heart out.

Kilkenny - D Herity; P Murphy, JJ Delaney, J Tyrrell; J Holden, B Hogan, C Buckley; R Hogan (1-0), C Fogarty; M Fennelly (0-2), C Fennelly (0-4), P Walsh (0-2); M Kelly, TJ Reid (0-5f), E Larkin (1-0). Subs: H Shefflin for M Kelly, R Power for P Walsh.

Limerick - N Quaid; T Condon, R McCarthy, S Hickey; P O'Brien, W McNamara, G O'Mahony; J Ryan, P Browne; D Breen (0-1), D O'Grady (0-1), D Hannon (0-5); S Dowling (0-7, 4f, 1'65), K Downes, G Mulcahy (0-2). Subs: S Tobin (0-1) for K Downes, T Ryan for D Breen, N Moran for D O'Grady.

Referee - J McGrath. Tweet

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