Into the unknown again with Clare. This afternoon's Guinness Munster hurling semi-final replay has become the latest set of crossroads for the Munster champions, who have now drawn three of their last four championship ties. Last year's struggles had an epic quality, a sense of giants being gradually lassoed and brought low by massed ranks of Lilliputians.
Unable to get into their stride fully, each draw and refixture seemed to slow them down and slowly but surely impair their effectiveness for each successive match. Eventually fatigue downed them as the team ran out of steam by late August.
Last week was, however, different. Clare were meant to be fresh and hungry for the fray, particularly with Tipperary's latest privileged generation the target for the match. Yet the response was genuinely poor. Never mind the wides; Clare always shoot their share of those. It was the lack of a turbo charge, that detonation which used to trigger periods of relentless domination, which most connoted a subdued performance.
There has to be praise for Tipperary. Nicholas English staked his first serious championship outing on a couple of gambles. Firstly, there was the deployment of such a young defence. This paid off handsomely with David Kennedy enjoying as good a big-match debut for the county as any centre back in memory. Eamonn Corcoran repeated the close-quarters shackling of Jamesie O'Connor which had caused some comment in the league semi-final last month.
Furthermore, Conor Gleeson, who had been surprisingly brought in for Declan Carr, grafted hard in the middle and paid his way. Up front, converted full back Paul Shelly's broad figure caused Brian Lohan much discomfort, although the conversion rate applied to a tidy package of possession wasn't particularly alarming for Clare.
Tactically the match was a success in that Tipperary used the unusual amounts of space to run at Sean McMahon, isolate Brian Lohan and also spread the ball out to the corners, where Liam Cahill was in lively form. Effective as it was, this pressing game, fired along by Brendan Cummins's quickfire puck-outs, was made possible by a number of failures on Clare's part.
Most obvious was the lack of physical presence through the middle. Without Ollie Baker at centrefield, there was a looseness about the general exchanges which made those raids on McMahon possible. Tired the centre back might have looked, but he wouldn't have been so exposed within the classic Clare gameplan.
Absence of physique was also obvious on the half forward line. Two years ago the line of O'Connor, PJ O'Connell (whose retirement was unsurprisingly brought to an abrupt close the day after the draw) and Fergie Tuohy (still suspended) cut rashers of Tipperary and established a total dominance, certainly for the first half.
The lack of bulk last week told against them. Niall Gilligan isn't equipped to go head-to-head with Kennedy, and the fast-moving game of O'Connor and Alan Markham never got going in the scrappy confines. Bunching and foostering further reduced the threat and, in the end, the uncharacteristic escape route of goals was badly needed.
No wonder Baker was virtually wheeled onto the edge of the square for the start of the second half. His presence had an impact, but it was Conor Clancy, whose appearance in the last 10 minutes was so crucial, who confirmed the need for more muscle.
Accordingly, we must take with the customary pinch of salt (from a bag that's nearly empty) Clare's announced selection. Engaging in second guesses about a line-out which will take the field in a few hours isn't a worthwhile exercise, but suffice it to say that a more substantial figure than any of the named forwards is likely to line up on the 40: Baker, whose match fitness must still be a concern, Colin Lynch or the notionally dropped Enda Flannery.
Tipperary will do their own thing, but the need for change hasn't been as obvious. Donncha Fahy was continually beaten for pace by Barry Murphy in the second half but little came of the exploits. On the one occasion the Clareman didn't hit a wide, he was fouled for an easy free which Jamesie O'Connor inexplicably sent wide.
More to the point, there's not a huge options list. George Frend appeared to be coming into the action last week, but he's not exactly a Ferrari either.
There's a marginal preference for Clare to win this because - strangely for the experienced team - they will have learned more from the drawn match. This presupposes that they are capable of applying the lessons.
As Munster chairman Sean Kelly pointed out last week, Kerry thought after their outrageous pilfering of a draw in Pairc Ui Chaoimh back in 1987 that they had the Munster final replay in the bag. Now, there's a thought.
CLARE: D Fitzgerald; B Quinn, B Lohan, F Lohan; L Doyle, S McMahon, A Daly; O Baker, C Lynch; J O'Connor, N Gilligan, A Markham; D Forde, S McNamara, B Murphy.
TIPPERARY: B Cummins; D Fahy, F Heaney, L Sheedy; C Bonnar, D Kennedy, E Corcoran; E Enright, C Gleeson; T Dunne, D Ryan, B O'Meara; L Cahill, P Shelly, J Leahy.
