Clare's surprising departure from the Munster football championship on Sunday at the hands of Tipperary brought down the curtain on eight years' inter-county management for one of Kerry's multiple All-Ireland medallists, John O'Keeffe, who stepped down as Clare coach after four years in charge.

Previously, he had led Limerick to a Munster final where they were narrowly defeated by Kerry in 1991 and to an even closer encounter with the same opponents in the following year's semi-final.

Having declared himself ready for "a bit of rest", he looks back on his years of involvement with two of the province's weaker counties and believes that match practice is the key to advancing at senior level and that under-age progress is also important if football is to develop.

In this regard he has been fortunate that his management has coincided with the open draw in Munster - which has helped level the playing pitch in two important areas. First, a county doesn't always have to beat both Cork and Kerry in the one year to win the Munster title and second, because the big two frequently have to prepare to play each other before the final, the entire championship doesn't resemble a training programme designed for Cork and Kerry. "It has stopped them demolishing weaker counties," says O'Keeffe. "The big factor is, if they get the chance to play into June and July, they will improve very quickly. It's the time you can play decent football in good conditions. With regular summer evening training, a team can improve dramatically. Most weak counties are out before June. It's something the GAA must look at. It's crazy to be out of competition between May and October."

He was impressed with Tipperary on Sunday and feels they may be able to mount a serious challenge in Munster. "I see the emergence of Tipperary and think they can do well in the Munster final. Only a couple of years ago they won a Munster minor title and that represents progress, slow maybe but getting there.

"We were happy enough at halftime as there was a strong breeze in our favour for the second half. But they got the first four points and we couldn't respond, couldn't get anything going in the front line. They played nicely into the wind and ended up with one wide in 70 minutes.

"Declan Browne, Peter Lambert and Brendan Cummins are very accurate when they get the opportunities and I was impressed with the way the other players around them work to get them into position and open space. There was a lot of unselfish running. They want to use the ball intelligently all the time rather than going for scores from out the field."

Browne has become one of the stars of the current championship. In all three of Tipperary's matches, he has been named man-of-the-match. On Sunday his contribution was again substantial.

"He got 1-7," says O'Keeffe, "a few from frees and the goal from a penalty but every time he got the ball there was danger. He's a fine player and playing with a lot of confidence. He seems to feel he can score every time he gets the ball." O'Keeffe can look back with some satisfaction on his time in Clare. In the National League, the team maintained a steady profile and spent a season in Division One and a couple in Division Two. They were spared the consequences of a bad campaign last year when the league format was redrawn.

In the championship, he had a chastening start when a well-drilled Cork team beat them comprehensively in O'Keeffe's first year. Cork were to dominate Clare's championship campaigns under him. In 1996, they took Cork to a replay and had their chances in both matches whereas last year, thanks to a famous last-gasp goal by Martin Daly, Clare defeated Cork but were defeated by Kerry in the Munster final.

"After four years," says O'Keeffe, "I'd given it enough. There's a new team evolving here at the moment and I think they're a good team. Last year, I said I'd give it one more season because I thought we could move it up a notch or two, that we'd be a better team. But we didn't have it on the day."