Clare plan to scale heights

AFTER all the shadow-boxing of the qualifying stages, the Allianz NHL has thrown up a final of genuine competitive interest.

Kilkenny against Clare is a throwback to the 1995 decider, a game which the Banner lost before launching their bid for eventual All-Ireland glory. It also follows in the wake of last season's most torrid championship encounter, a ferociously hard-hitting All-Ireland quarter-final that ended in a draw, then in controversy, after an eye-injury to Kilkenny's Henry Shefflin. Then there is the fact that the sides met six weeks ago when fired-up Clare inflicted the only loss of the campaign on an experimental and atypically unprepared Kilkenny.

Given that history, and the pedigrees, today's game feels more like championship that league.