Hurling round-up: The old adage that goals win games came home to roost in Thurles as a resurgent Clare advanced to the Munster final with a 4-12 to 1-16 triumph over Limerick.
Four times Clare raised the green flag, but it is the manner in which they were conceded that will prove the bitterest pill of all for Limerick manager Richie Bennis to swallow.
The Shannonsiders defence hardly covered itself in glory for any of the goals, particularly both second-half scores after they had fought their way back into contention.
Playing into a strong breeze in the first-half, Limerick had conceded an early goal to Pat Vaughan but managed to hang on to Clare's coattails until Johnny Clancy's low strike evaded All Star goalkeeper Brian Murray.
That saw the sides turn at 2-7 to 0-5, and with the wind at their backs Limerick began to claw their way back into the contest.
Points from long range were finding the target - remarkably, Limerick didn't fire a single wide after the interval - and when Ollie Moran shot home they tagged on a couple more points and all of a sudden found themselves just two points down with 20 minutes on the clock.
Then came two quickfire goals for Clare, Barry Nugent first exploiting a blunder in the Limerick defence before Diarmaid McMahon took advantage of poor marking to fire past Murray.
This time there would be no way back as Clare held firm to book a showdown with Tipperary at the Gaelic Grounds.
At Croke Park, meanwhile, the Wexford hurlers gave their fans cause for a double celebration with a narrow 2-15 to 1-15 win over Dublin.
Disappointed to have let last weekend's drawn game slip through their grasp, Dublin opened an early lead but were pegged back as goals from Stephen Banville and Rory Jacob put Wexford on top at the break.
David O'Callaghan again gave a master class in front of goal, grabbing a personal tally of 1-8, but despite his promptings, and the inability of Wexford to score for all of 20 minutes before the end, Dublin came up short once more.
Clare: P Brennan, P Vaughan (1-0), F Lohan, G O Grady,B Bugler, C Plunkett, P Donnellan, B O'Connell (Capt.), C Lynch (0-1), T Carmody (0-2), D McMahon (1-0), J Clancy (1-2), T Griffin, N Gilligan (0-3, 2 frees), M Flaherty (0-3, 3 frees). Substitutes: D O Rourke (1-0) for Griffin (22 mins), B Nugent (0-1) for Flaherty (47 mins), G Quinn for Plunkett (66 mins), F lynch for McMahon (71 mins).
Limerck: B Murray, D Reale, S Lucey, M O'Riordan, S Hickey, P O'Dwyer, M Foley (Capt.), M O'Brien (0-1), D O'Grady (0-1), M Fitzgerald, O Moran (1-1), N Moran (0-5), A O'Saughnessy (0-6, 5 frees), S O'Connor, D Sheehan (0-1). Substitutes: D Ryan (0-1) for Sheehan (40 mins), B Foley for Fitzgerald (52 mins), P Tobin for O'Connor (59 mins)
Dublin: 1 G Maguire; 4 T Brady, 3 S Hiney (capt), 2 N Corcoran; 5 M Carton (0-1), 6 R Fallon (0-3, free and 65), 7 J Boland; 8 J McCaffrey (0-2), 9 S Lambert; 10 J Burke, 11 D O'Dwyer, 12 K Flynn; 13 D O'Callaghan (1-8, eight frees), 14 J Kelly, 15 R O'Carroll. Substitutes: 22 P Carton for K Flynn (28 mins), 18 D Qualter (0-1) for S Lambert (41 mins), 24 P Kelly for M Carton (52 mins), 25 P O'Driscoll for D O'Dwyer (54 mins), 19 P Ryan for J Kelly (62 mins).
Wexford: 1 D Fitzhenry; 4 P Roche, 3 K Rossiter, 7 D Stamp; 5 M Jacob, 6 D O'Connor, 2 M Travers; 10 PJ Nolan (0-1), 13 D Redmond (0-1); 11 E Quigley (0-1), 17 W Doran (0-2), 12 D Lyng (0-4, three frees, 65); 19 S Doyle (0-3), 14 S Banville (1-1), 15 R Jacob (capt, 1-2). Substitutes: 25 B Lambert for D Redmond (62 mins), 18 M Doyle for PJ Nolan (65 mins), 9 C Farrell for S Doyle (71 mins).
Referee: M Wadding (Waterford).