MUNSTER SHC SEMI-FINAL Tipperary 3-18 Clare 1-22:FOR THE longest day of the year this was in danger of being over fairly quick. At least until Tipperary began to flicker and to fade, and without much warning, Clare brought themselves to the brink of the one championship upset no one had predicted.

So they didn’t quite pull it off, but the very fact Clare got so close will have raised their stock considerably, while at the same time, raised a few more hard questions about Tipperary. No team can afford to concede a comfortable advantage twice during a match, and for the second game in succession, and not face some hard questions.

Still the difference between winning and losing was only fully realised a short while afterwards – as Tipperary turned their attention to defending their Munster title against Waterford on July 12th, in Thurles, and Clare turned their attention to the difficult qualifier draw against Galway. There is no way back for Clare from here on. There is for Tipp.

Inevitably after such a close finish both teams could still draw plenty of positives. For Tipp that started with the man-of-the-match performance from 18-year-old Noel McGrath, who ended with 0-7 – with no score more valuable than his 70th-minute free which gave Tipp the last bit of breathing space they needed.

For Clare, the championship debut of Colin Ryan was in ways the most impressive display of all. He ended up with a tremendous 0-12 and very nearly stole the show altogether with his last-minute free. Needing the goal, Ryan deftly curled the ball over the heads of the Tipp defenders, and it looked to be dropping into the top of the net only for Brendan Cummins to skilfully divert it over the bar.

Clare may not have deserved to win it at that stage, but certainly would have deserved the draw – something which Tipp manager Liam Sheedy had no reservations agreeing with. No doubt most of the 20,872 in attendance would have agreed as well.

The difference then, ultimately, was Tipp’s three goals, each one as well taken as the next and each one threatening to kill the game long before the finish. Lar Corbett finished the first after just eight minutes, with a nice one-handed flick, and that helped Tipp to a 1-6 to one score advantage.

Clare briefly rallied, but within 10 minutes Tipp had their second, this one finished just as impressively by Séamus Callanan. That pushed them 11 points clear – 2-10 to 0-5 – and the scary part was it was fairly reflective of the pattern of play.

Tipp looked superbly fit, constantly moved the ball, while Clare stood off, waiting for ball, often standing still.

There were at least two fairly convincing theories presented afterwards to explain why Tipp raced into such an advantage after 28 minutes: the first, that their opening game against Cork gave them a definite edge; the second, that Clare’s hangover from league relegation was more severe than expected. Either way there was only one team in this match for the majority of the opening period.

But then there was only one team in it for the majority of the second half as well, and that was Clare. Tipp centre back Conor O’Mahony was unable to resume duty for the second half because of injury, but that was only the start of their problems.

Clare needed to make some running repairs and eventually they looked the part: Pat Donnellan moved up to man-mark the rampant Shane McGrath, allowing Brian O’Connell to drop into the half-back line. Soon Clare were so dominant there the Tipp half forward line gradually practically disintegrated.

Diarmuid McMahon’s 1-1 in the minute before half time had given Clare the little bit of hope they needed – and they turned around 2-11 to 1-8 in arrears. They started the second half brightly too, but somehow allowed Tipp to steal a march again.

James Woodlock hit a nice score, before on 46 minutes, Corbett played a great ball in towards John O’Brien, who promptly fetched and fired it into the Clare net. With their lead restored to nine points it once again looked as good as over.

If only, Sheedy must have thought. What happened over the remaining 20 minutes was a bit of blur for both teams, but what mattered is Clare were doing all the scoring – and outscored Tipp 10-3 in that last period. Finally, there were hustling and working for every ball and Tipp were genuinely rattled.

James McInerney, who like Ryan was making his championship debut, gradually began to master full back, although there was able assistance from Pat Vaughan, Brendan Bugler and Alan Markham.

Ryan, though, was growing in confidence with every score. Niall Gilligan had been notably quiet but could have made up for it with six minutes remaining with a thunderous shot that brought another class save from Cummins – and Ryan was unlucky not to finish it off.

Clare substitute John Conlon also chipped in with a valuable score, and with five minutes to play Ryan hit another free that brought Clare to within three. Tipp were on the edge and close to being pushed off. Eoin Kelly, who is clearly not playing without some pain, was replaced by his brother Paul but still Tipp couldn’t find the scores they needed.

Heading into injury-time, Ryan sent over a 65-metre free without blinking and there seemed to be no saving Tipp. Until the teenager stepped up, and cool as ice, McGrath slipped over the free that forced Clare to chase that last-gasp goal. The very fact that they were chasing it gave them plenty to think about for the rest of the summer.

TIPPERARY:1 B Cummins; 2 P Stapleton, 3 P Curran, 4 C O'Brien; 5 D Fanning (0-1), 6 C O'Mahony, 7 P Maher; 8 J Woodlock (0-1), 9 S McGrath; 10 P Kerwick (0-3), 11 S Callanan (1-0), 14 J O'Brien (1-2); 13 E Kelly (0-3, all frees), 12 L Corbett (1-1), 15 N McGrath (0-7, one free, sideline). Subs:31 B Maher for O'Mahony (half time, inj), 28 W Ryan for Kerwick (54 mins), 21 B Dunne for McGrath (63 mins), 26 H Maloney for Callanan (64 mins), 24 P Kelly for E Kelly (67 mins). Yellow cards: C O'Brien (18 mins), P Curran (39 mins).

CLARE:1 P Brennan; 2 P Vaughan, 3 J McInerney; 4 G O'Grady; 5 P Donnellan, 6 B Bugler, 7 A Markham; 8 B O'Connell, 15 J Clancy (0-2); 10 T Carmody (0-1), 11 D McMahon (1-2), 9 T Griffin (0-3); 13 N Gilligan, 14 D Barrett (0-1), 12 C Ryan (0-12, six frees, two 65s, one sideline). Subs:20 B Nugent for Carmody (60 mins), 22 J Conlon (0-1) for Barrett (62 mins), 19 G O'Connell for Clancy (65 mins). Yellow cards: N Gilligan (18 mins), J Clancy (49 mins), B O'Connell (57 mins).

Referee:James Owens (Wexford)