Anthony Daly: Are goal-shy Clare and Galway just working on a system for Limerick?

If this was a game that Clare had targeted, when a league semi-final was still up for grabs, they went about it a funny way.

Clare's Paul Flanagan and Tom Monaghan of Galway

At one stage in the second half in Cusack Park on Sunday, a couple of Clare supporters got into a heated argument in front of me in the North Stand. Robyn Mounsey had a poor wide. One fella was giving out about it. Another lad was defending the Ruan man. I turned around to the fellas beside me and said, ‘That’s nearly the first time the Clare supporters have got animated all afternoon’.

It was nearly that kind of a day for Clare, where the muted and lifeless action on the field transferred into the stands. Even when Clare raced into an 0-8 to 0-2 lead early on, there was no great life in the crowd.