Clare to summon old fire to burn off rivals

The key to what may or may not happen in tomorrow's Guinness Munster hurling semi-final at Pairc Ui Chaoimh can be divined from Clare manager Ger Loughnane's response to last year's eight-point mauling of then National League winners Cork. It came only a few weeks after Cork had beaten Clare by 11 points in the league. This turnaround of 19 points was explained by Loughnane.

"The core players, however they do it, can get themselves right for the championship. I'm so fresh myself and have such a hunger that it's like '95 except I've more confidence and am more anxious to win than ever before."

Another 12 months on and that same consideration arises once more. Can a team which has been on the road for as long as Clare produce another season of intense performances, starting with this weekend's eagerly awaited clash against the latest in the line of young pretenders. Tipperary, like Cork, come into the fray armed with a league semi-final win over Clare and the league title itself under their belts.

Maybe they bring a higher degree of wariness to the task than Cork and certainly they have - unlike Cork last year - experienced the full force of Clare in championship mood. Nine of the Tipperary team faced Clare two years ago and although they came off second-best, in neither the Munster nor the All-Ireland finals were they within more than a score of their opponents.

So there is experience, but will it be any more successful than it was two years ago? And what improvement do the newcomers bring to the team? Principally this is a matter of the defence, four of whom are championship debutants. There are sufficient concerns about the full-back line for Paul Shelly to be only a phone call (or a shut-out by Brian Lohan) away from reverting to his more established theatre of operations.

The half-back line was saved from disintegration (a fate which befell it at this venue two years ago) in the league final by Conal Bonnar's arrival from the bench. David Kennedy is well regarded for his hunger for the game and self-improvement although his striking will be in sharp contrast to Sean McMahon's at the other end.

Eamonn Corcoran survived the league match well but looked a bit ragged at times on Galway's Alan Kerins in the final. He has had a good year - including the Player of the Tournament award in this year's Fitzgibbon Cup - but Jamesie O'Connor in full flight is as big a test of stamina and wits as can befall a wing back.

Midfield has attracted most of the pre-match attention. One of the features of the semi-final meeting in Limerick was Declan Carr's robust display in the company of Ollie Baker and Colin Lynch. The Clare duo were substituted, but in another sport they'd have been up before the stewards.

Now Carr has been dropped, despite two reasonable performances in the knockout stages of the league. Even within Tipperary there is bafflement at his exclusion. Certainly there had been doubts about his ability to hack it over 70 minutes but in such circumstances it's usual to name the player and substitute him when he's demonstrably out of puff.

One of the reasons behind Carr's recall was his physical resilience. In Babs Keating's autobiography, he mentioned Carr as the only Tipperary player who could go head-to-head with Michael Coleman in the Galwayman's heyday. It's hard to understand how an outing against Kerry - Carr's only championship match since comeback - could have revised the management's plans to such an extent.

Ironically, Baker himself may not be playing. His ankle injury and the previous ailments have cost him a lot of training time. Depending on what you want to hear, he'll either line out because he's indispensable or else be replaced because he's not fit, with Enda Flannery moving to the middle and Brian Quinn coming in at corner back.

Baker, McMahon and O'Connor all have had the burden of a very busy year which brought them All-Ireland club success with St Joseph's Doora-Barefield.

Tipperary have an advantage in the forwards with greater variation and scoring power, but they'll need it against the most powerful defence of the decade.

Clare have yet to shrug off the reservations about their attacking capacity which have arisen over the years. Since the decline of Sparrow O'Loughlin's powers there hasn't been a regular goalscoring threat up front.

Each match, someone has chipped in but there never appeared to be a pattern. Niall Gilligan has been a success previously at centre forward and Alan Markham's destruction of Brian Whelahan during the second Offaly-Clare match last year was memorable. But David Forde wasn't as influential last year as in 1997 when he was deployed largely as a substitute.

Now Stephen McNamara is apparently back in favour and Barry Murphy with him. The image of a rotating set of forwards endures.

Great teams tend to check out unexpectedly and often when the day comes it comes with a vengeance. Although last year featured some serious blows to morale and the aura of invincibility which cloaked them for so long, it seems too early for Clare to falter.

That belief, combined with the feeling that Tipperary have a little further to go before impacting at this level, leads to the view that Clare will win.

Admission to Croke Park for tomorrow's Leinster football championship double bill will be by ticket only. Tickets will be on sale today from 11.00 to 3.00 and cost £13 (stand) and £7 (terrace).

Clare: D Fitzgerald; E Flannery, B Lohan, F Lohan; L Doyle, S McMahon, A Daly (capt); O Baker, C Lynch; J O'Connor, N Gilligan, D Forde; A Markham, 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 (capt), D Ryan, B O'Meara; L Cahill, P Shelly, J Leahy.