`Bruised, battered but not broken'

After any game of such close encounters, it comes down to the claims of who should have won it. Not surprisingly, both Ger Loughnane and Mattie Murphy were quick to offer their rights.

"This was the typical Clare side of the last four years," said Loughnane. "Never say die and battling to the end. And yes, maybe unlucky not to win it as well. All over the field, you can't blame the effort of anyone in the second half. I'm certainly glad to be there for another day."

So much of Clare's survival, however, seemed to hinge on the surprise appearance of Jamesie O'Connor. "For sure, we were struggling badly just before he came on," added the Clare manager. "Something like eight points down and in dire straights. But you could see the effect it had on all the other forwards. It seemed to lift the weight off their shoulders and even though he didn't score he made a huge contribution towards the end.

"Stephen McNamara made a massive contribution as well when he came on. He was prepared to take them on and got the goal when we badly needed it. I think that tactically we got it right as well. Everybody that came on made an impact. Hurling in Croke Park on days like today is what hurling is all about."

Time then for the Galway's manager's claim. "Sure, we could have won it," he said. "But it is nice to be part of such a fantastic game like that. I think in circumstances, we played with admirable skill. And there is definitely a lot to be built on in that performance.

"As a whole, we went through the whole range of emotions out there, from elation to demoralisation. It was a real game of hurling, but in terms of pattern, I suppose we all had our periods of dominance. We picked up our injuries as well, but this game is physical by nature. We're bruised and battered but not broken."

The ominous thoughts of going through it all over again was not exactly greeted with open arms by either manager. "We're forgetting about any All-Ireland down the road," said Loughnane.

"We're just concentrating on the next day. It's not always about winning, but about the excitement and skill that we saw today. I think anybody that was here would feel privileged."

There were, however, still many positive things to take from this game, not least of all the display of Rory Gantley. "He had a fantastic game," said Murphy, "but you wouldn't expect anything different from a Gantley."

Joe Rabbitte was offering some seasoned opinion of heading into another game of this standard. "Another game alright, but I don't know if you look forward to punishment like that," he said. "But we came up here expecting to beat Clare and it seems like we left them off the hook. I had a job to do and I think the forwards as a unit did perform well. It was a great team effort and we played to our strengths, Hopefully we can do it again. Clare came back but that's the sign of a very good team. You'll never have a good team beaten until the final whistle. I thought we had them but they crept back in. But we learnt a lot."