Only 10 minutes of this clash had elapsed when Colin Ryan stood over a 20-metre free in a central position and the thought struck that a goal was far more tempting and necessary than the obligatory point on offer.

Clare were already fanning the flames of a very dangerous looking inferno across the Gaelic Grounds at that stage, eight points (1-6 to 0-1) in arrears to a Tipperary side intent on distancing themselves from the malaise of their second-half performance against Cork three weeks earlier.

Ryan took wise counsel on board however, opting for the safe option of a point, one of 12 he would accumulate in a performance that belied his status as one of three debutants.

But still the signs were wholly ominous for Clare as Tipp's forwards oozed class, young Noel McGrath again putting down a footnote that he will at least be in Joe Canning's slipstream for the next decade.

How Mike McNamara might have wished there and then that he was back in Ogonnolloe, pressing his foot into the sod beneath the snow-capped peaks, hailing its aridity as Clare lifted the Waterford Crystal trophy having put Tipp to an early season sword.

The landscape for Clare had looked promising on that biting cold January day, but after a miserable league campaign, the opening 10 minutes in Limerick held ominous portents for them.

When Tipperary pressed on after Seamus Callanan's wonderful 28th-minute goal to lead by 11 points, more than a few of the Clare loyalists in the 20,872 crowd must have cast a thought back to 1993 when they were last on the receiving end of a bad beating from their great rivals.

Against that background, Clare's second-half performance can be put into perspective. That disastrous league campaign appeared to have turned a lot of support off the team over the spring months, eroding the credit built up last summer.

But Mike Mac has always appealed for patience with his rebuilding project and faith was surely restored with the courage, resilience and, in the cases of Ryan and fellow debutant James McInerney, class they showed. If they vanished off the radar over the last few months they most certainly resurfaced yesterday.

The Tipperary manager Liam Sheedy wasn't patronising afterwards when he suggested he wouldn't have had a complaint if it had finished level.

Sheedy will have his own concerns, of course, at the lack of security his team provides for healthy leads they build up.

stunning

That 11-point lead was compressed into four some five minutes into the second half but they were nine points clear within six minutes, courtesy of another stunning goal, this time Lar Corbett providing the precision pass for John O'Brien after Paddy Stapleton's impressive break from defence.

Tipp should have been able to batten down the hatches then but they continued to look vulnerable and missed the stability of Conor O'Mahony's presence at centre-back after he withdrew at the interval with an injury.

Once again their main pressure point was their half-forward line, which was essentially cleaned out by Brendan Bugler, Brian O'Connell and Alan Markham in the second half.

True, Pat Kerwick started brightly and pitched in three points with exhilarating pace and Corbett and John O'Brien both did damage as they interchanged on the other wing, but the overall effect was still one of Clare dominance when the battle was at its fiercest.

Corbett and O'Brien provided clinical touches throughout, O'Brien's delivery for Corbett's sublime touch for goal on eight minutes being a case in point.

But Tipperary's most dangerous forward was McGrath, still not 19 until December. Every time he had possession his team was guaranteed serious productivity.

He had a hand in four of Tipp's first six points and finished himself with seven in all, five from play and that crucial late free when Eoin Kelly had been withdrawn.

Kelly had probably his quietest day in a Tipperary shirt, but that didn't seem to matter much as his colleagues around him prised open the gaps on the back of so much Shane McGrath industry.

A neat Noel McGrath touch made the opening for Callanan's goal but the Drom and Inch man gave himself momentum with his pick-up and then space with his shift on to his left side.

But the tide started to turn when Diarmuid McMahon, switched to full-forward where he made an immediate impact, latched on to a Pat Donnellan clearance and beat Brendan Cummins on his far side. When he followed up with a point that may have been a goal with a bit more ambition, the game had exploded into some life as Tipperary held just a six-point lead at the interval, 2-11 to 1-8, after so much dominance.

Coupled with Pat Donnellan's move to midfield to shadow Shane McGrath, McMahon's posting to full-forward gave Clare a better balance.

The champions looked to have taken Clare's best early second-half shots when O'Brien's goal gave them distance again, restoring a nine-point lead after being pegged back to four on two occasions.

But still Clare kept coming relentlessly with Ryan's accuracy the most essential part of their armoury. He chipped in the full set of scores, two 65s, a sideline, three from play and six frees to make his debut a memorable one.

His second-last free brought Clare to within three points on 65 minutes and rattled Tipperary to the extent that they reeled off three consecutive wides.

A Ryan '65 edged Clare even closer and it required the cool hand of Noel McGrath to steer Tipp to relative safety with that late free from near the sideline.

It still didn't finish there though. The last act saw Brendan Cummins reach to parry a dipping 35-metre free over.

So Tipperary survive and remain on course for a first defence of a Munster title in 20 years in Thurles of all places. But the last seven weeks could yet extract a heavy toll.

Scorers -- Tipperary: N McGrath 0-7 (0-1f, 0-1 sl), J O'Brien 1-2, L Corbett 1-1, P Kerwick, E Kelly (0-3f) 0-3 each, S Callanan 1-0, J Woodlock, D Fanning 0-1 each. Clare: C Ryan 0-12 (0-6f, 0-2 '65, 0-1 sl), D McMahon 1-2, J Clancy 0-3, T Griffin 0-2, T Carmody, D Barrett, J Conlon 0-1 each.

Tipperary -- B Cummins 8; P Stapleton 8, P Curran 7, C O'Brien 7; D Fanning 7, C O'Mahony 6, P Maher 6; J Woodlock 6, S McGrath 7; P Kerwick 7, S Callanan 6, J O'Brien 8; E Kelly 5, L Corbett 8, N McGrath 9. Subs: B Maher 6 for O'Mahony (ht), W Ryan 5 for Kerwick (53), B Dunne for McGrath (62), H Maloney for Callanan (63), P Kelly for Kelly (66).

Clare -- P Brennan 6; P Vaughan 7, J McInerney 7, G O'Grady 7; P Donnellan 7, B Bugler 8, A Markham 7; B O'Connell 7, J Clancy 7; T Carmody 6, D McMahon 8, T Griffin 6; N Gilligan 5, D Barrett 5, C Ryan 9. Subs: B Nugent 5 for Carmody (60), J Conlon 7 for Barrett (61), G O'Connell for Clancy (65).

Ref -- John Owens (Wexford).

- colm keys