It'll probably still be sinking in for another while, but the sight of the crowds in Galway as they arrive home will help the team come to terms with their achievement.
Before that, two of the All Ireland Hurling champions of 2017 joined us on Off The Ball to react to their victory which ends a 29 year wait for the Liam McCarthy Cup.
Corner forward Conor Cooney recalled a panel that was calmness personified pre-game.
"I think a lot of lads were really relaxed. Anyone I was talking to, they were very calm and collected. There were no big nerves or anything like that, so every lad seemed calm and seemed to sleep fairly well the night before," he said, adding that there was a sense of collective confidence.
Team-mate Aidan Harte explained that the second Waterford goal was a setback that chipped away ever so slightly at that confidence during the game, but touched on how they prevented that from pulling them down.
"I suppose it was a real sucker punch. It was a soft goal," he said.
Galway's Aidan Harte celebrates with the Liam MacCarthy cup after the game ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan
"Them things happen but all we spoke about really all week was the next ball and the next ball and piece by piece kind of getting through the game - not trying to predict the outcome and things like that - so even when it did go in, we knew the guys we had down there, just get the ball down there I suppose as quick as possible to try and win primary possession and luckily that's the way it worked out and you'd have to really commend the guys that came in up front, the likes of Jason Flynn and Niall Burke to get on the scoresheet. I'm sure they were massively disappointed on Friday evening when the team was picked and they weren't on the starting XV. But it shows the character of them guys to put that disappointment behind them and come on and finish the job when other guys had given so much."
On the tactical approach, Cooney spoke of trying to avoid playing into the hands of Waterford star Tadhg De Burca.
"We decided early on that we were going to try and keep it as wide as possible and maybe keep it away from Tadhg because he is an exceptional hurler."
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