Not only that, Stack delivered. He played his part in an unbelievable game of hurling at a venue that few if any others can match when there are 40,000 people plus inside the bowl.

I wrote last week that Stack had shown before that he has potential. On Saturday night, he underlined it and gave a performance that was a massive improvement from the previous week’s game in Wexford.

I also stated that he had been cocky but there was no sign of that in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. I doubt my column impacted him, more likely he took words of advice from Wednesday’s referees’ meeting in Dublin. He was controlled, reasonable and put in a display that puts him in good stead for the knock-out stages.

Games like Saturday can make or break a referee’s season. Not only that, they can serve as an example to other referees. In front of a huge crowd, Stack showed little nerves and nailed the vast majority of the calls.

The biggest one was the penalty and black card at the end. Shane Kingston was grabbled to ground by Kyle Hayes and for me it was a foul that ticked all the boxes for that offence – in the area, one of the prescribed fouls and Kingston was denied an opportunity to score a goal.

If anything, Hayes was fortunate he wasn’t being shown a red as he had earlier avoided picking up a yellow. However, the Limerick wing-back was also at the receiving end of punishment, some of which wasn’t picked by the match officials.

Before that, Patrick Horgan was blown against for trying to engineer a free in front of the South Stand. It was a correct call by Stack as it was a cynical attempt by Horgan, which we have seen from several players in recent seasons.

Earlier on that sideline, Paul Kinnerk and Pat Ryan were booked after Kinnerk tried to pass on a message to Diarmaid Byrnes in front of the Cork dug-out. Kinnerk shouldn’t have gone there but then it has become so difficult for management to get anything across to their players during games and I’d have some sympathy for them.

Nearly all of Stack’s yellow cards were right – Eoin Downey and Seamus Flanagan, Seamus Harnedy for a loose use of the hurl, Fergal O’Connor for pulling back, Cathal O’Neill’s foul on Shane Barrett and Mark Coleman’s. However, Declan Dalton was unfortunate to be booked for a shoulder attempt. Horgan also won a free in the first half when it seemed he was charging.

At the City End in the second half, the umpire who was controlling sliotars was also manning the white flag. Providing the balls to the goalkeeper should be the responsibility of the umpire with the green flag as they are not as busy.

In the build-up for the match-winning penalty, Patrick Collins sent out the ball just as the white flag was being waved for Aidan O’Connor’s point. Limerick manager John Kiely afterwards referred to it but it would have been harsh to pull back for a retake when Cork were so keen to chase down Limerick’s lead in the dying stages.

In Carlow, Killian Doyle was rightly sent off for a sly dig picked up by Chris Mooney’s umpires although he might have seen it himself too. For Carlow’s equalising score, Mooney rightly changed a sideline cut to a free brought forward 13 metres as Tom Phelan threw the ball into the stand to waste time.

He did, however, seem to miss David Blanchfield fouling the ball just before they went two points up but it was an afternoon Mooney could be happy with. At least that’s what a video of the incident seemed to suggest but it was a marginal one and a fair result in the end.

Sunday’s biggest game was obviously the Ulster final in Clones where Martin McNally had an excellent outing. He had refereed two other provincial finals but on his home patch he gave a great account of himself.

McNally comes from the Pat McEnaney school of excellence. He would be close to McEnaney and learned a lot from him and he was correct with several calls like a yellow card for Jason McGee for a boot.

If he missed anything, it was not booking Andrew Murnin for a closed fist tackle and the extra-time free awarded to Jarly Óg Burns was on the tame side as the Armagh man seemed to simulate it and to add insult to Donegal’s injury the ball was brought forward for dissent.

In Croke Park, Noel Mooney had a relatively hassle-free day in a Leinster final that turned out to be a lot more competitive than people would have imagined.