RUGBY: All evening and all night, and again yesterday, everybody seemed to be hugging everybody as the Red Army made a weary, drained but contentedly slow march home from Cardiff to Limerick. It was hard to find the right words, but maybe a mere two sufficed. As two of the extended squad embraced in the departures lounge at Cardiff Airport, one of them said simply: "At last."

Munster woke up finally at ease with the world yesterday, and the world seemed like a better place. Friends, family, supporters could sleep more easily - if not exactly on Saturday night. The players' status as "ligends" is confirmed, and, as one put it, knowingly and self-deprecatingly, "What are we going to complain about now?"

Surely never again will we be able to recount an eight-year crusade on behalf of so much more than one team or squad.

"It's for the people where you come from and your families," reflected Paul O'Connell. "Unbelievable support. Fabulous people. Just the money they spent. Some of them paid €450 for a day trip, and you gotta wonder where those prices are coming from, and why people are being asked to pay that kind of money. But fair play to them, they did it and they arrived in their droves, and it's an absolutely fabulous feeling. We've invested so much heartache and everything into this competition to try and win it."

Remembering how towns and villages throughout the province had been festooned in red, this was, as John Kelly put it, for the entire Munster community. Reflecting on the injured players who joined the on-field party, his voiced quivered. "We're not about 15 players on the pitch. We're about the 36-odd players and everyone in the backroom."

And, of course, they are all just passing through. "I only have a Munster jersey for a few years, if I'm lucky," said Jerry Flannery, who has captured and reflected the essence of Munster rugby in a bravura season comprising a European Cup, a Triple Crown and an AIL medal. "I'm minding it, it's not mine, and there's a responsibility that comes with wearing that jersey, that when you go out on the field you give your all and you run until you've nothing left in the tank.

"I think that's the main thing. People talk about the X-factor in Munster and what is it. There's no stars in Munster, it's just honesty and a work-rate, and Paul O'Connell is the biggest example of that. This guy is a superstar of rugby, yet he's the most down-to- earth, and he never takes his foot off the gas. He's constantly training and pushing it harder, and he sets an example.

"Fellas like John Kelly as well, these are guys that you just can't help looking up to them."

And those who have passed through, but are still spiritually part of the Munster fabric. As his old mucker Peter Clohessy scampered on to the pitch to share in the moment, Mick Galwey was stationed in the press box. Later that evening, Anthony Foley would encapsulate the odyssey that Munster's European Cup holy grail had become by reminding the 5,000 in attendance that, in 2000, Mick Galwey, in the very same spot in Shannon Airport, had made them a vow.

"He promised you we would bring you back something that would make you happy, and here it is."

Watching the celebrations unfold, Galwey described his emotions. "Nobody beats Munster twice, and I'll always stand by that," he said with the kind of proud defiance that no doubt marked all his utterances as captain of the team at the start of this odyssey. "I'm proud to say I've played with a lot of these players, and it has been a journey. I was there at the start of the journey, and I'm delighted particularly for the six or seven players who played in all three finals.

"But it's not about the players, it's not about anybody, it's about Munster, it's about the jersey and what it represents. This is a fantastic occasion and one that we had to wait for for a long time, and that's what it's about. People talk about the journey, but one thing I've learnt in Shannon is that when you win a final it gives you great confidence to go back and win it again, and that's the position Munster are in now."

For Galwey, Munster winning the European Cup was as big and as good as it gets.

"The Triple Crown? Like, we were here last year when Wales won the Grand Slam and I don't think it was like this." One Welsh journalist reckoned as much too.

"Nobody wants to leave. This is unbelievable. There's going to be some party, and this trophy is going to go to Limerick and Cork and every county in Munster, and other places, because bringing home this trophy is massive for the country, and that's very important to say that.

"It's not just about Munster," he stresses, his passions rising. "In fairness, and I'll say this, a lot of Leinster people and others supported us today. I even saw people wearing Leinster jerseys coming to the match, and fair fucks to them, because we're all here to celebrate an Irish triumph. People have come from all over the world to be here. What a moment."

Quite where 60,000 resourceful, red-shirted supporters obtained tickets is worthy of a book in itself, but there were indeed a few brave blues dotted around the ground. "Leinster for life," one had emblazoned on the back of his jersey, while on the front was written: "Langer for a day."

The day of days. May 20th, 2006. Rarely has there been such an outpouring of raw emotion and passion in a sporting venue.

"We drove 10 miles to the stadium and then we floated the last mile, and the rest of the day pretty much continued like that," Declan Kidney reflected yesterday as they assembled for a rendezvous with the Lord Mayor of Limerick and the thousands who would greet them in O'Connell Street.

The fates weren't entirely kind yesterday, for back in Limerick and elsewhere in the country the wind howled and the heavens opened. "A grand day for an open-top bus ride," quipped one of those nursing a hangover.

"We'll take it," said Kidney. "We'll take it."