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CHAMPIONS Clare scored a notable early season victory with a hard-fought two-point win over Tipperary in the Waterford Crystal Trophy under lights in Borrisoleigh last night.

New manager Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin made it two wins out of two as roughly 3,000 spectators braved the bitter cold to watch both sides served up some good fare.

This tie was a repeat of last year’s final and once again, Clare had the upper hand to set up a clash with Davy Fitzgerald’s Waterford next Sunday in a dress rehearsal for the Munster championship.

The winter of discontent which rocked Clare has now been replaced by an apparent calm and there was a noticeable hunger about O’Loughlin’s charges last night.

John Conlon, a centre-forward in the traditional mould, caught the eye with a barnstorming performance decorated by three points. Fearless and direct, Conlon caused endless problems for Tipperary’s defence.

Conlon was the outstanding player for Clare perspective but there were impressive performances too from livewire midfielder Jonathan Clancy and the experienced Alan Markham.

Clare started with seven players who began last year’s Munster championship match with Tipperary, while the home side fielded six of the players who lined out then.

Clare signalled their intentions with the opening two points, provided by Fergal Lynch and Mark Flaherty with the first of his six pointed frees.

Tipp roared back through Pat Kerwick and Gearoid Ryan and during the early stages, Eoin Kelly looked particularly keen for action. Kelly missed all of last spring with a back injury before lining out in the championship and it now appears that his long standing problem has been put to bed.

Clare built up a 0-5 to 0-2 lead after 10 minutes and were comfortably holding Tipp before going on to lead 0-10 to 0-6 at the interval.

Eleven minutes after the restart, and with Tipp trailing by 0-11 to 0-8, Kelly had the chance to restore parity with a penalty but his effort was batted away by Domhnall O’Donovan.

Clare looked comfortable from then on but Tipp were thrown a lifeline in the 56th minute when substitute Noel McGrath netted.

Tipp were now back to within two points, trailing by 0-16 to 1-11, but they could not close the gap.

Scorers for Tipperary: E Kelly 0-6 (5f), N McGrath 1-0, P Kerwick 0-2, G Ryan, B Dunne, P Bourke & S McGrath 0-1 each.

Scorers for Clare: M Flaherty 0-6f, J Conlon 0-3, J Clancy & A Markham 0-2 each, F Lynch, M ‘Ogie’ Murphy, D McMahon & P Donnellan (f) 0-1 each.

TIPPERARY: B Cummins; C O’Brien, D Fanning, P Curran; D Young, T Stapleton, S Maher; B Dunne, G Ryan; P Kerwick, H Maloney, P Kelly; P Bourke, J O’Brien, E Kelly.

Subs: M Webster for Bourke (39), L Corbett for P Kelly (45), N McGrath for Kerwick (48), S McGrath for Ryan (56), P Maher for Dunne (60 + 2).

CLARE: P Brennan; P Vaughan, C Dillon, A Brigdale; D O’Donovan, B O’Connell, P Donnellan; M Ogie Murphy, J Clancy; A Markham, J Conlon, F Lynch; M Flaherty, M Scanlon, A O’Brien.

Subs: D McMahon for O’Brien (43), J Cusack for Scanlon (51), B Bugler for O’Connell (57).

Referee: D Copps (Cork).