Clare/Tipperary: Match report

Clare 0-14 Tipperary 0-15

Tipperary face the winners of the Waterford/Limerick match in the Munster final following their one-point win over Clare in a close and exciting match at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

A superb Seanie McMahon free opened the game and Clare went into a two-point lead.

Tipperary went ahead with an Eoin Kelly free in the 16th minute and from then until the interval, the sides exchanged points to leave a half-time score of seven points apiece.

At the opening of the second half, Clare went into a two-point lead before Eoin Kelly pulled one back from a free.

The introduction of John Leahy - twice man of the match during Tipperary's 2000 campaign - brought a huge roar from the Tipp faithful.

However, two minutes later, he was stretchered off following an awkward fall which saw him clutching his knee in agony.

The sides then exchanged points until Tipperary went three ahead through scores from Paul Kelly, Declan Ryan and Brian O'Meara.

Clare pulled one back and Eoin Kelly scored his seventh of the game to leave the score Tipperary 15, Clare 14.

Clare's forwards did not perform on the day and it was left to centre-back Seanie McMahon to level the scores in the 71st minute from a free, but he failed to convert.

There followed two more minutes of tension for the supporters before referee Dickie Murphy blew up the game, to the delight of the Tipperary fans.