Match analysis/Eamonn Cregan  Based on their performances coming into yesterday's All-Ireland final I always thought Kilkenny would have too many big guns for Clare. And on the day they did. On top of that they played extremely well and just weren't in the mood to be beaten.

Clare were winning matches through this year but were depending too much on Seánie McMahon to keep them in the games, and get their scores. The same thing transpired here. They scored quite well in the end but there's no doubt Kilkenny were the better team.

From the start they kicked off in a blaze of glory and after three minutes DJ Carey had a goal. That was far from the start Clare wanted. In almost all their games this summer they've allowed the opposition to get ahead in the first 20 minutes, but Kilkenny were the one team they couldn't afford to do that against.

Tactically, Kilkenny were able to bring Brian Lohan out, and start attacking through the middle. And that worked. The first goal came from Henry Shefflin running at McMahon, and by breaking to the left he was able to get away. DJ just turned his hurl for the goal. It was a tremendous start for Kilkenny.

So after five minutes Kilkenny were dominating the game. They were running at Clare from midfield and Clare weren't able to hold it. Normally they would defend and crowd there, but Kilkenny had opened it up too much. They were also winning all of the effective ball.

Still, after 20 minutes DJ was beginning to be tied up and Brian Lohan was playing extremely well. Kilkenny tried to counter-act that by bringing Martin Comerford out the field, but Lohan stamped his authority on the game and played tremendously well throughout. A true captain's part.

But he didn't get enough support further out the field. McMahon was having to attack, and at various stages we saw him up in the half-forward line trying to score. Unfortunately for Clare their forward line was just not functioning as a unit. On a couple of occasions Tony Carmody got the ball and let it fly across to the far side instead of trying for a point. Another time he played it out to David Forde, but Michael Kavanagh had that player tied up.

But every time a Clare player had the ball he was put under fierce pressure by Kilkenny. If he tried for the ball it was kicked away, if he tried to shoot it he was hooked, or if her tried to catch he was blocked. Clare very rarely got clean possession, and on top of that Jamesie O'Connor was bottled up at half forward.

For all that dominance Kilkenny found themselves just five points up a few minutes into the second half. Clare threw off all inhibitions, and maybe they had shown too much respect for Kilkenny in the first half. But they suddenly took them on, and for 10 or 15 minutes they were going at them non-stop. They came close to scoring a couple of goals and even still brought it back to three.

But two goal opportunities in particular were missed and that was where the match was lost. They needed to score one of those to get the impetus that may have brought them a victory, and may have cracked Kilkenny.

Once Kilkenny weathered that storm, they got themselves back on top. The simplicity of their game then was a joy to watch. They would flick the ball away, or roll it quickly. They passed it and ran extremely well. They also batted down ball that they could have caught, but with two or three Kilkenny men around them they were still safe.

After absorbing that pressure they were back putting the ball over the bar. The ease at which they scored in comparison to the effort that it took Clare was the difference from then until the end.

I still think both Clare corner backs played well, and McMahon did well too. But Shefflin still scored because McMahon had to drive forward to get some scores, and that left his back line open. But he had no choice because the Clare forwards weren't finding the scores that were needed.

It's an old saying but you have to take your scores when you dominate if you want to win. Clare did manage to get that period of domination but they didn't get the scores to go with it. The little flicks here and there like Shefflin's goal towards the end was the difference for Kilkenny.

This is a team that's been formed so well by Brian Cody and his selectors. It's a simple game but the fluency is truly amazing. I'm not saying any of these Clare players are going to retire, and they do still have some rocks of players.

People call Kilkenny the artists of the game but this team also has a ring of steel to them now and I expect they'll be around for a few years yet.

In an interview with Ian O'Riordan