Clare find extra gear to topple Limerick

CLARE 0-19 - LIMERICK 0-17: There was probably too many wides for this to be considered a classic but in a way that was a measure of why it was such an epic.

With 3,697 people watching on, these were two sides desperate to prolong their summer and everything about the game reflected it — in the fact it went to extra-time, extending the losing side’s championship by at least 20 minutes, and in the fact every score was excruciatingly hard earned.

Even getting a shot off was an achievement. That Clare had 21 shots waved wide was not so much a reflection of their inaccuracy as the tenacity of Limerick’s defending. Any ball played into a forward, he had a man right up on him. Any time he went to strike, he still had a body or hurl in on him.