Heat is on as rivals prepare to cross swords

THE extraordinarily high octane expectations of tomorrow's Guinness Munster hurling semi final illustrate the distance travelled by the counties in the space of two years. Back then, the meeting of Clare and Limerick in the provincial final prompted feelings of "ah, God love them. Isn't it great to see one of them getting out this" year?"

Now, Clare are All Ireland champions and Limerick blew a memorable chance to be their, predecessors. Tomorrow is the fourth successive championship encounter between the pair and that sequence has seen their reputations rise from hopeless cases to front line contenders.

The season in prospect offers much to Clare. Last season's historic victory was occasionally blessed with luck, but the team, exhibited enough quality around the pitch to deserve any breaks that came their way.

With the confidence that comes from success, the argument ran, and the introduction of a couple of new players to pressurise the first team, Clare would consolidate and improve and, in a far from vintage field, would stand a great chance of retaining the All Ireland.

Much of the above reasoning remains intact, but suddenly this Munster semi final has assumed a greater importance than was hitherto thought.

The prospect of playing Limerick is no longer about replaying last year's Munster final but about taking on the side that devastated Cork's 73 year old unbeaten home record.

Limerick were always expected to be generally motivated after the disappointments of the last two years, but tomorrow they have a raging specific motivation to beat Clare, whose manager Ger Loughnane is well aware of his opponents intensity.

Two influences fuel Limerick their enormously high levels of self belief and bitterness about last year's Munster final. Cork people were quite taken aback by the confidence of Limerick - in the event well justified prior to last month's first round match. According to one person who has recently met Tom Ryan, the Limerick manager is equally up beat about tomorrow.

In addition to conceding a goal from what they regard as a dubious penalty, Ryan and his team believe that they were horsed around by Clare last year and afforded inadequate protection by the referee. The implications of them being "ready for it" this time could be of concern to referee Willie Barrett.

There are a couple more considerations running in Limerick's favour. The two counties have alternated the winning of this fixture over the last three years and it is Limerick's turn.

This isn't as fatuous an argument as it appears. Each of those defeats proved very demoralising for the losers and helped fire their motivation for the following year.

Now in his third year in charge, Ryan has drawn a number of excellent championship performances from the team. Whenever fired up and properly focused, they have hardly lost a match (the obvious exception being the 1994 All Ireland). Last year's harrowing Munster final reverse was substantially helped by complacency and an almost distracted desire to get back to an All Ireland final.

Clare have named the same team that won last year's All Ireland.

Is this a good thing? It suggests either a lack of resources or that under pressure from promising fringe players, those in possession have raised their game and met the challenge.

The newcomers under most active consideration were Ronan O Hara at midfield and Eamonn Taaffe in the full forward line. Fergal Hegarty's more tested aptitude for the big time edged out O'Hara, whereas Taaffe was denied by the enduring belief in Conor Claney's ball winning ability and Stephen McNamara's pace.

As indicators for this match, the most useful precedent is last year Munster final and Limerick's big win over Cork three weeks ago.

When the teams met last year Clare won the pivotal battles far more convincingly than they could have hoped. Sean McMahon kept Gary Kirby scoreless from play, PJ O'Connell ran Ciaran Carey ragged and led him away from the puck outs, Jamesie O'Connor, after a slow start on Sean O'Neill, hit his stride. There were also substantial contributions from goalkeeper Davey Fitzgerald, in particular, and as usual Brian Lohan.

Things can hardly go as swimmingly this year, but they may cot need to as Clare have improved as a unit. The much maligned corner backs, Frank Lohan and Michael O'Halloran - who was roasted on occasion by Damien Quigley last year - have both developed well during Fitzgibbon Cup and All Ireland club triumphs earlier this year. And Liam Doyle, after worrying Loughnane earlier in the year, has regained form to the extent that the caught everyone's eye in the recent challenge against Kilkenny.

It promises to be a match of terrifying physicality and in that regard, Limerick's advantage of a match under the belt will stand to them. Of course a 16 point wipe out of Cork will stand to them generally, but the unexpected ease of the victory may have camouflaged pressure points.

Mike Nash was in difficulties at full back whenever Cork got decent ball through to Alan Browne. At the other end, Padraig Tobin was generally well contained by John O'Driscoll - apart from chose two ghastly errors, which is not to exculpate the Cork full back, but to place Tobin's two goals in perspective and point out that Brian Lohan is the wrong man to have marking you if mistakes are the primary source of scores.

Mark Foley hurled splendidly on his championship debut at wing back but he will find Fergie Tuohy a more truculent opponent than Barry Egan. The O'Neills, Shane and Owen, on the right wing of the attack also played well on their debuts but more information is needed. After that, it's down to familiar battles: McMahon Kirby; Ollie Baker Mike Houlihan (eeek!), O Connell Carey.

It's hard to judge Clare as they emerge from a virtual vacuum, but in a match where defences look to hold the whip, the team's ability to throw up different match winners on different days (O'Connor, O'Connell, Sparrow O'Loughlin, Tuohy, last year) makes them marginally more bankable than the less independent Limerick attack.