Back in 2007, Geary was one of the Limerick players who came out of the Croke Park tunnel to a thunderous reception before their All-Ireland final against Kilkenny.

People still remember that roar. Geary, now a Limerick selector, certainly does.

Yeah, if there’s one thing that did take me that day was the roar when we came on the pitch.

“I was talking to a couple of the groundsmen up there since; we’ve been up on a few work things and they did actually mention the cheer that the team got that day and it did unsettle us. I know it did for myself a small bit.

“You are only out there for a short period of time, you don’t have five or 10 minutes to get over this shout. It’s all very compact by the time you go over to meet the president and do your parade.

I’m sure there’s going to be every bit as much of a crowd up there again to embrace the lads, but there was a huge atmosphere there for the semi-final, there was 71,000. If you throw in all the neutrals that are going to be at the match that always go to the final, you’ll probably get in or around the same number of support, depending on how you get on with tickets.

The Limerick management mentioned the likely reception before the semi-final win over Cork: ”Lads would have played in big matches, All-Ireland under-21s and this and that, but sure nothing would have readied them for what they would have got in the semi-final.

“Even though there was a great atmosphere in Páirc Uí Chaoimh that night (Munster Championship v Cork) this was going to come up a level again and they experienced it and they dealt with it quite well. That’s another thing ticked maybe.”

Kilkenny got off to a good start in 2007. Geary and Co don’t want a repeat against Galway on Sunday.

“Without a doubt. Just going back to 2007, in an All-Ireland final you don’t want to be digging yourself a hole.

“Galway are such a physical team. I’m not even sure if they’ve got back to where they were last year yet. They could be saving that for the final. If you give them a start, you’re going to be up against it.

“Our lads have watched all the matches all year. They’re more than aware of how Galway can start, so it’s about matching their intensity I suppose in the opening quarter.”

Galway survived that replay against Clare to make the final. Not great news for everyone in the Geary household. Which is in Clare.

It was funny at home now for us. All my kids would be Clare supporters. There was a great buzz around the place, but I didn’t have a preference.

“If you start wishing that it’s another team you’re going to be playing in the final you’re not really concentrating on your own and I think that’s what we’ve been doing since the semi-final. We had our few days off, obviously, and had our bit of organising done, suits and all the other stuff that goes with it. That’s done early. Tickets are done. It’s good and we’ve had a good session over the [last] weekend.

“Obviously, you have to analyse your opponents anyway, but we’ll do that anyway, you don’t want to over-analyse either. A couple of sessions of video analysis will do that, but I think the lads are very much focused on their own game now and doing what they have to do to be right on the day.”

Is the Limerick team now more or less what the selectors had in mind at the start of the season?

“I suppose we had a lot of work done last year,” says Geary. “You’d be hoping you’d be kind of finalising it, but I suppose maybe 75%, maybe 80%.

“In fairness to anyone who got a chance in the Munster League and the League itself, [they] did very well and because of that there was a consistent team throughout. They all did well and didn’t deserve to be dropped, and it’s kind of stayed the same throughout the year.

“On the flip side then, on the 36 — 35 now that Paul [Browne] is injured — they are pushing hard, to a man. You could say that and be bluffing, but there is a big appetite to get onto the 26 for the final. Why wouldn’t there be? You want to see your name there in the programme. That is driving it and the lads that are starting, they know there’s fellas over their shoulders.

“They’ve been good to us too. There hasn’t been a bad performance... take the Clare match out of it, which was somewhat flat. Clare were up for that match and they deserved to win that match. I know we clung in there until the last five or six minutes, but we were totally outplayed.

Taking that out of it, the players have been very consistent and, if they do that, you have to be loyal to them.”They’ve been loyal back. Take the performance in the semi-final against Cork.

“The atmosphere was huge. It was a hard-fought match.

“It was the fact that the 22 or 23, they all had a bit of an input. A point here for Davy Reidy, and Shane Dowling came on and did what he did. It was good to see that focus was on the bench too, because a lot of the time when there’s an atmosphere like that, subs can get involved in the atmosphere and they come onto the pitch then and can be totally flat or they can be blown out of it.

“It’s great to see focus like that again. If we’re looking to win in the final, we need that again and more.”

All-Ireland Final preview: Wildcards, huge gambles and dropping the hurley