Inspired by a rampant Jamesie O'Connor, the Clare juggernaut yesterday rolled over Kilkenny in the first Guinness All-Ireland hurling semi-final at Croke Park.
The defeated Leinster finalists, who had done so much to realise the potential of the new championship format with their steadily improving team, were hit by late withdrawals as full back Liam Simpson and full forward Michael Phelan failed to start the match and had to be replaced by John Costello and Ken O'Shea.
Both players had been struggling with injuries since last week and according to manager Nicky Brennan, the loss had been expected since Friday night. Whereas the absences hardly helped their cause - Phelan's physical presence being particularly missed in a lightweight attack - Kilkenny were well beaten although a tenacious last-quarter response scared the wits out of Clare's many supporters in a crowd of 47,961.
As with the Munster final win over Tipperary, Clare were sold a little short by the final margin. Four points was a thin enough definition of a victory performance which saw the winners dominate in sectors all around the field.
They themselves had a late injury problem as centre forward Fergie Tuohy pulled out before the throw-in and was replaced by Niall Gilligan. This was a setback for the team as Tuohy has a scoring touch and marked his previous appearance at Croke Park, in the 1995 All-Ireland final, with four points from play. In the event, Conor Clancy gave a robust account of himself on the 40 and prevented Pat O'Neill from becoming a launch-pad for Kilkenny's attacks.
Nonetheless, Clare still found the wherewithal to stack up 1-17, a total in strict keeping with their defeats of Cork and Tipperary when they scored 1-19 and 1-18. Much of the damage was done early and by the 10th minute, the Munster champions had streaked clear by 1-5 to 0-2 and by the fraught closing stages, they had enough in the bank to stay ahead.
This was a pulsating match maybe lacking the sweeping grandeur of previous matches but vibrant with tension up until the very end. Kilkenny mightn't have exhibited the signs of a side that were going to recover but the memory of their second-half recovery against Galway two weeks ago plus the deadly genius of DJ Carey - who despite a subdued afternoon still bagged 1-5 - combined to create a cloud of unease for Clare which overshadowed the last 10 minutes.
There's no more fitting indication of the county's modern status than their list of recent victims. The last three championship wins have been against Cork, Tipperary and now Kilkenny, the three aristocrats of the game whose breeding is supposed to leave the likes of Clare half-beaten before a match even starts.
At no time did that general psychological barrier look more formidable than in the last quarter yesterday when Carey had slipped the defence for a goal and pulled Kilkenny back to within six points by converting a free immediately afterwards.
Isolating Frank Lohan, who had endured problems albeit not costly ones on PJ Delaney towards the end of the first half, as the most suspect rampart in Clare's fortress defence, Kilkenny switched Carey into the right corner and waited for the telling ball that would allow him un-pick the lock once more. It never came. Clare held their nerve and defended with composure - and not just in the backs.
Although the defenders won nearly every direct contest and centre back Sean McMahon, solid throughout the match, particularly rose to the challenge, valuable work was done further out the field. The irrepressible Jamesie O'Connor at one stage came hurtling across the pitch deep onto his own half-back line to gather and clear a ball whereas his colleagues' insistent pressure prevented any penetrative striking from deeper.
If O'Connor was the match's obvious colossus, he was well complemented by the astounding Brian Lohan, who yet again delivered a championship performance of frightening will power and devastating technique. Whether coursing his marker relentlessly, anticipating the long delivery, or launching long, relieving clearances, the Shannon full back was immense.
It was a contribution only just overshadowed by O'Connor's, partly, you could say, because the standards Lohan has set and rigorously observed are so consistent that his excellence becomes almost mundane, but also in a team where everyone was doing a job to high specifications, O'Connor was doing a few.
The energy and stamina have been referred to above and were frequently on display as he scuttled around the pitch picking up ball everywhere. His personal tally of nine points, five from play, made him the team's top scorer and most potent threat. As early as the second minute, he left his calling card with a scything run through Kilkenny's defence and a crisply-taken point.
His speed to the breaking ball was complemented by cool judgement as he picked off points like a carnival pistolero shooting plates and never allowed himself to be seduced by glory-hunting quests at goal. Added to all this was his unerring free-taking which helped the team make the most out of a number of attacks.
On a day when one number 12 was hotter than the August sun which baked the ground, the other, DJ Carey, adeptly marshalled by the splendid Liam Doyle for the early stages of the 70 minutes, had a less fulfilling time of it. Carey's difficulties were simply that the conditions which nurtured his tour de force against Galway were conspicuously absent.
By raising the physical stakes at half-time in Thurles, Kilkenny created time and space for their captain to work his magic. That was never going to be an option or an opportunity yesterday. Clare have almost no peers (Wexford may dispute the matter should they reach next month's final) when it comes to the physical game.
Phelan's absence from full forward cost them and John Power, whose second-half entry against Galway helped light the fuse for the great comeback, never found much purchase in his confrontation with Clare's captain Anthony Daly whose physical command and natural authority remain undimmed even if he was exposed for pace by Carey's 55th-minute goal.
Further out, Clare's centre-field - where Colin Lynch again outshone his senior partner Ollie Baker - and the whole attack drove into their opponents with such fierce determination that the match frequently resembled a game of rugby as clusters of players horsed into rucks that formed around the ball.
Such circumstances suggested only one winner and never allowed proceedings to evolve into the sort of free-flowing spectacle that helped bring about Galway's demise.
Clare started with a bang. A mis-hit free by Carey was moved by only two players, Brian Lohan and O'Connor, up to Sparrow O'Loughlin who pointed. In the fourth minute, Sparrow struck for the team's goal. PJ O'Connell released Fergal Hegarty whose shot was well saved by Adrian Ronan, but the deflection - cruelly for the goalkeeper who had been blamed for Galway's three goals - fell for O'Loughlin who goaled.
Thereafter, the Sparrow was well snared by Eddie O'Connor who had moved to full back in place of Simpson with John Costello coming into the corner. Niall Gilligan gave a game display and even occasionally troubled the very much in-form Willie O'Connor who delivered another high-octane performance.
Despite the powerful start, there were signs of nervousness in the Clare defence with ball being fumbled and on one occasion being fouled after Michael O'Halloran, who played very well on Charlie Carter, had authoritatively caught the ball and was making his way out of defence.
Wides and general lack of economy meant that Clare's lead wasn't as great as it should have been at half-time, although the five-point advantage could have been worse had Davy Fitzgerald not saved a 26th-minute penalty from Carey. It was a great save as Kilkenny's captain rose the ball so well that there was time to wince as you waited for it to come down onto his wound-up hurley.
Reprieved, Clare went on to an interval lead of 1-8 to 0-6. Crucially, they didn't repeat Galway's mistake of lying on the ropes when the second half began and peppered Kilkenny with points to such an extent that they had moved 10 points clear, 1-14 to 07, within only 10 minutes of the restart.
Carey's goal, a darting burst past Daly and a shot beyond Fitzgerald and a rapidly covering Brian Lohan, revived the match but with their lead shrinking and the management team of Ger Loughnane, Michael McNamara and Tony Considine bunched in deep contemplation on the sideline, Clare responded. The plans had been too well laid and the players too single-minded to allow any late heroics from Kilkenny.
