League finalists Kilkenny and Tipperary were the favourites to contest this year’s All-Ireland final, even if the statistics over the past 20 years were against league final opponents staying the pace to September.

Clare thoroughly deserved to win this game on a day when Hawk-Eye needed to pay a visit to its sponsors. They were hungry and economical with the ball and they did the damage in the first half.

I was expecting a tactical battle from the throw-in last Sunday and I was surprised when it failed to materialise. I will be astonished if Clare and Limerick isn’t a tactical engagement.

This game turned on a few events. Dublin centre forward Ryan O’Dwyer, who was having a big influence on the game at the time, picked up a second yellow card with 20 minutes left at a time when the Metropolitans were a point to the good. For the record, the first card was harsh. Anthony Nash sent the free over the bar to level proceedings.

The areas which will decide tomorrow’s All-Ireland semi-final

Cork showed remarkable intensity as they upped their game from the Munster final

If Cork win this game, they will have to take a tactical approach into it and set themselves up to keep scoring down.

In hurling there’s a cycle every 20 years or so in the middle section of the decade. “New teams” surface and hold sway until they fade and the big guns boom again.

Apart from the early stages, Limerick played second fiddle to a well-drilled Cork outfit in the first-half but took over after the break, with their defence on top for the crucial last ten minutes.

If Clare get into a rhythm they are difficult to contain, as Laois found last Saturday in Cusack Park