For all the talk about the running feud between the Clare hurlers and members of the media the Clare dressing-room is never locked and is never dull. On the other side of the door it's always a natural disaster or a happy fiesta which greets you.

Yesterday afternoon was a little different. Having come close to perishing they were thoughtful but happy.

In the shower room, water sloshing about his feet and naked players clomping past him, Ger Loughnane was holding court. It's his season and he seems as elemental as the summer wind. Here's a sight which has enriched us. Ger Loughnane and his lava of words.

"Tipperary will be sorry not to have won it, we're relieved but I would say that any neutral is gone out of here exhilarated, they have been present at a mighty event. Today was a mighty event for the game of hurling."

And the last of your weariness is drained away. The game has been good, dammit better than that, and Loughnane's swift words rekindle the best of it. He is asked about Ollie Baker, who though picked on one of Loughnane's midweek lotto team sheets didn't begin the match, making instead a Hitchcock-like cameo appearance in the second half. Complete with the Hitchcockian girth.

"Ollie Baker? Well his problem is fitness. People thought we were pulling something the day we took him off in the league match. His fitness is his problem though, the injury is gone now, but I said it to him that day, `you won't get away with a gut like that in five weeks' time'."

Loughnane leans into the chat like a man with drink on him and a point to make.

"Listen, Conor Clancy was the trump card today lads. He's only back training about five weeks. He did the trick. He got a great point and then he held on to the ball for the penalty. He had an operation on his knee. We can't expect to be as lucky as that again."

And suddenly in his hurling high he is distracted by the sight of Davy Fitzgerald emerging from the sprays of the shower.

"Davy, Davy, Isn't it a good thing I stopped you from taking them penalties on Friday night. You might have run out of energy today. Well done Davy." And he is off to be back among his hurlers, cajoling and prodding.

Up the corridor in the Tipperary dressing-room, Nicky English is putting on his trousers one leg at a time, which is surprising because his extraordinary managerial career nearly produced a stunning coup yesterday.

He doesn't spend words as freely as Loughnane does; he still moves gingerly for fear of falling through the ice.

"I think our players learned a lot," he said, "we've been all year waiting for this. It was always going to be the biggest test we had and it proved so. Going out there today a lot of our players were a bit nervy, when they settled into it they played hurling. In my job that's all you can ask for."

As in most GAA camps these days, injury news is the stuff which seeps out immediately after the game, not before it.

English confirmed that Johnny Leahy was hobbled yesterday and came close to being a non-starter. "Ah, Johnny had a calf strain. He got through most of it and we'd be hoping he'll be that bit fitter next week."

In the Clare dressing-room Enda Flannery said his selection as the midfielder accompanying Colin Lynch, after he had been named at corner back, came as a surprise yesterday morning. "I only heard it this morning that Ollie wasn't starting. I knew if I was on at all it wouldn't be at corner back. Clare have no reason not to have Brian Quinn there after the year he had last year."

Davy Fitzgerald, who pulled his team's fat out of the fire, not once but twice in the last five minutes - with his superb save and converted penalty - was buzzing around on the sort of high goalkeepers seldom get.

He talked about the penalty. "It's a long walk down to take it but a longer walk back if you miss. I walked down slow and decided to get it up right and hit it as hard as I could. That's all I remember."

He adds: "One of the Tipp boys kindly reminded me as I was just about to take the penalty that it was all over if I missed. That's the way it was. In think overall we have to improve. We have a lot more in us. It's just great we have another match next Saturday."

Regarding the saves, he said; "One ball came in the second half and I lost it in the sun. You know the way it goes: hero today - you never know what the story could be the next day."

In the Tipperary dressing-room Paul Shelly was still reflecting on the wonder of it. He'd burned away Frank Lohan with four minutes left, strode to the ball in front of Brian Lohan, pulled cleanly with a wicked hop and waited for the net to shimmer. Nothing.

"I hit it well. Everything went right, it bounced low and away from him (Fitzgerald). He's some 'keeper. He made some save. He was as good as the shot. That would have been curtains for them, but that's hurling. It's a cruel game."

You could sing it.