Clare 0-14 Tipperary-22:NHL/Division One/Group One: It mightn't be the ideal preparation for a claustrophobic championship start in three weeks' time but Tipperary yesterday took a deep breath, brushed aside next month's opponents Clare and duly qualified for a fourth Allianz NHL final in five years.
Manager Michael Doyle afterwards emphasised that his greatest worry at this stage was the spectre of injuries. In that respect he's had a trying week, with John Leahy's cruciate injury confirmed and rumours of stiff suspensions floating everywhere on the spring air.
"We're happy enough," he said. "We set out at the start of the league to give a good account of ourselves and we have given a good account of ourselves. We're in the final and you can't ask for anything more than that."
In the circumstances he hardly expected less than that. Clare's selection was well under-strength and after a feisty start they fell away and by the final whistle Tipperary were winning as they liked.
The match was punctuated by some good Tipperary score-taking, especially from Eoin Kelly and Eugene O'Neill, but worrying for Doyle was the succession of goal chances created - albeit not taken - by Clare.
It was a dispiriting conclusion to the league for Clare, who have now ended up losing all of their phase two matches. Cyril Lyons has tried a host of permutations throughout the campaign without it being immediately obvious what shape his championship 15 should take.
"It was a funny game," he said afterwards. "We created a lot of goal chances and didn't take any of them. We had a five-minute period where we'd total dominance and probably should have scored a goal and three or four points - which would have made the second half far more interesting."
Without quite booking his panel into the Poor Clares monastery across the road, Lyons made it clear that the next three weeks would require a great deal of single-minded effort.
"We still have a lot to do and without Brian (Lohan) and Colin (Lynch) in the middle of the field - huge players for us. Lads today tried very hard but Colin and Brian are very experienced.
"It was a good game for us to get even if it's one we didn't really want when the draws were made but it shows us how much we have to do.
"Probably mentally today was a difficult game for both teams but nothing that three weeks of hard work wouldn't smarten."
Target practice will, presumably, be high on the agenda. Although Brendan Cummins in the Tipperary goal made some good saves, some of Clare's spurned goal chances were less explicable. Top of the list was Niall Gilligan's miss from around 15 metres in the 31st minute. Daithi O'Connell blasted a track through the middle of the defence and laid it off to Gilligan, who swiped it wide.
It was the nadir of a period lasting around five minutes during which Gilligan contrived five successive wides - as well as a free that hit the post.
As Lyons said, improved accuracy would have set Tipperary a more challenging target when they switched around with the wind in the second half.
Earlier in the match Barry Murphy and Andrew Quinn also had goal chances but both were blocked. Yet for most of the first half Tipperary were torpid enough and Clare established an early lead, peaking at 0-5 to 0-2 in the 11th minute.
But gradually the visitors chipped away at the deficit and with the combination of some nice points - one showcasing a virtuoso pass from Tommy Dunne into Eoin Kelly in the 19th minute - and their opponents' squanderlust, Clare's lead crumbled before half-time and they trailed 0-9 to 0-11.
That was that. The second half started with a point within 10 seconds from Liam Cahill and a wide from Gilligan. Thereafter Tipperary just motored away into the distance with Clare failing to keep track of the expanding margin between the teams.
James O'Connor came on in the second half but by then the trend was set. Tommy Dunne was the key influence at centrefield and behind him his brother Benny gave another compelling display at corner back, where he has adapted his hurling skills very effectively.
Another of Doyle's defensive newcomers, Brian Horgan, also clocked up another good league display.
Clare were unable to make headway and at the other end Tipperary continued to clip points and it took the post and a good save from David Fitzgerald to deny Lar Corbett goals in the 45th and 53rd minutes.
So the contest fizzled out with most thoughts turning to the championship meeting in Cork on May 18th.
TIPPERARY: B Cummins; M Maher, P Maher, B Dunne; B Horgan, D Kennedy, P Kelly; T Dunne (0-4, one free, one 65), A Butler; M O'Leary (0-2), C Gleeson (0-1), L Cahill (0-1); E Kelly (capt, 0-6, two frees), E O'Neill (0-5), L Corbett (0-3). Subs: R Flannery for Butler (50 mins), D Byrne for O'Leary (62 mins), J Devane for M Maher (71 mins).
CLARE: D Fitzgerald; B Quinn, R O'Looney, F Lohan; G O'Grady, S McMahon (0-3, two 65s, one free), G Quinn; T Griffin (0-2), D McMahon (0-1); D O'Connell, F Lynch, A Markham; N Gilligan (0-4, three frees), A Quinn (0-4, one free), B Murphy. Subs: J O'Connor for Lynch (half-time), C Earlie for Murphy (52 mins), K Ralph for O'Connell (63 mins).
Referee: M Wadding (Waterford).
