Draw favours Clare for replay

The hurling was very good in patches and it would have been a pity for anyone to lose. Clare will feel they've come out of it better, but they had problems.

Both teams were tense and hyped up and the match was played in a welter of excitement. It was tough and very physical and marked by a number of schemozzles, rucks where the ball never moved and the referee had to call a throw-in. But it was terribly exciting and featured some great scores.

Dicky Murphy refereed well. He used a lot of common-sense and helped to keep the game moving. There wasn't a dirty blow struck in the match and I'm glad that he recognised that. I've a problem with the new disciplinary rules because I think they inflict football rules on hurling.

Anyway, this wasn't one of Clare's better performances, but even though they played below their usual standard, they got the draw. It would have been a lot worse to have played well and lost. Their forwards aren't built to play a physical game, but their backs usually do.

People now know how their defence plays, dash out and clear the ball away. If opposing forwards can get in and touch the ball out of the way, the defence is turned and if a defender is running back, he's in trouble.

Ollie Baker's withdrawal was a big loss to Clare although the players must have been aware of it and plans made. Enda Flannery had played well there against Limerick in the league and whereas it weakened centrefield a bit, Brian Quinn's introduction in defence was a benefit.

Although he came on, I think it's hard to see how Baker can get back to match fitness in six days. He was sent on as a morale boost and while he didn't do much, I think he had an impact because the defence was wary of what he might do. Within seconds, there were positional moves all over the pitch.

For Tipperary to do well, they had to hold the Clare forwards. They did that for most of the match, but then at other times were very loose.

Liam Doyle turned in a very good performance all the way through, tidying up and clearing. The number of catches made by the goalkeepers was noticeable. Both teams seemed to decide to leave plenty of space for the inside forwards and they created a lot of space that way. But balls were hit too long and it gave the 'keepers plenty of time to make the catches, which they both did very well.

Puck-outs were strange. Davy Fitzgerald was only landing pucks on the half forwards while Brendan Cummins was sending his way further and it was the same in both halves. It may have been tactical but I felt that Tipperary somehow had the wind in both halves.

There was tremendous pressure on the forwards, whose space was cut to nothing. They either had to get rid of it quickly or run into space and the flow of the match was disrupted. Tipp brought in more mobile forwards in the second half to replace John Leahy and Brian O'Meara and both scored.

I thought Paul Shelly had a good match, but didn't get the scores which could have reflected his possession. He got to the ball and seemed to brush aside Frank and Brian Lohan with ease, but he didn't get the scores.

He was unlucky with the goal chance because he made the room for himself well and the shot was textbook, hit low away from the 'keeper. But Fitzgerald made a tremendous save and then minutes later goes up and sticks away a penalty to level the match.

If Tipperary had stretched the lead to four points at any stage they would have won it. They didn't score sufficiently when they were on top. Clare went 14 minutes in the second half without a score and that will worry Ger Loughnane.

I think the effects of DooraBarefield's run in the club championship may have been one aspect of why Sean McMahon and Jamesie O'Connor were as quiet as they were. At one stage after Eddie Tucker had come on, he just ran away from McMahon who looked very tired.

Clare could be a tired team overall but I think they will believe they have been given a second chance and that they won't blow it the second time. They've been All-Ireland champions twice and Tipp are a young team - which gives Clare the edge.

One thing, from a manager's point of view, something has to be done about communicating with players on the field. With a crowd like that, you can't be heard and Ger Loughnane was ordered off the pitch trying to make changes. But if he hadn't, he wouldn't have been heard and in the couple of minutes it takes to make a change, the match could be lost.

Finally the pitch looked a bit better this week, but it was still poor. You noticed it on the sideline pucks. It was like hitting a golf ball out of the bunker. Players had difficulty rising the ball and the pitch was also killing the ball dead on occasions.

In an interview with Sean Moran