FROM THE rumbling, rising roar that greeted their arrival on to the Pairc Ui Chaoimh pitch for yesterday's Guinness Munster hurling final, to the sea of jubilant acclaim that greeted their regained Munster title, Clare's afternoon was one of immense satisfaction.

Maybe the scenes at Thurles two years ago were more frenzied as befitted the bridging of a 63-year gap but yesterday Clare came to Cork confident that they could beat Tipperary and proceeded to do so in the style of champions and with a comfort that only the score-board disputed.

The most surprising thing about this final was that Tipperary, so outplayed for most of the match, should have been within a score of Clare at the finish. That in itself was confirmation of the distance the county has travelled in the four-years since Tipperary inflicted such humiliation on Clare at the same stage that year.

That mammoth defeat had been avenged within a year but against general expectation and in a scrappy, dogged affair which took Tipperary by surprise. Since their All-Ireland triumph of two years ago, Clare have looked forward to beating Tipperary in a Munster final.

Yesterday fitted the bill. Having hammered their opponents into arrears of eight points, Clare allowed Tipperary recover and then, with all the old ghosts and insecurities apparently about to be unleashed, they steadied and took off once more to establish another lead.

Despite gradual erosion and a late scare when John Leahy mishit a last- minute chance for goal that would have forced a replay, Clare endured and took their fifth provincial title a second in three years. Effectively they beat Tipperary twice and twice showed them a way back but still won.

Tipperary had only one dominant phase in the match - as they hunted down a large deficit either side of half time, particularly at the start of the second half - but spent less than a minute ahead and about four minutes on level terms.

Their exertions in pursuit of the match seemed to drain them for the crucial last quarter. Tipperary had ridden their luck in the semi-final, surviving an early mauling because of Limerick's squandering of chances and hitting back with economical score-taking.

Yesterday, they found Clare's defence impenetrable and their forwards disinclined to waste opportunities on the scale necessary to keep Tipperary in the match.

Clare adjusted their attack before the throw-in and all six forwards lined out in different positions. The effect was productive, with all of them on the scoreboard by half-time but it was the half forwards who created the most panic.

This was largely the result of a scattered performance by Tipperary's half backs who were comprehensively beaten by the free running attacks of PJ O'Connell, Jamesie O'Connor and Fergie Tuohy. At the heart of the defence, Colm Bonnar had a noticeable off-day and his two-day spell in hospital last week with a blood infection must have been a factor in diminishing his contribution.

Such was the dominance of Clare's defence and midfield in the early stages, that only a below-par display by the corner forwards prevented Tipperary from being hammered. Sparrow O'Loughlin was moved to full-forward to reprise his match-winning contribution against Cork and his was easily the most accomplished performance of the full forward line.

His pace gave Noel Sheehy a ghastly first half as O'Loughlin pulled his marker all over the pitch and picked up ball in deep positions for three points.

David Fitzgerald in the Clare goal was called on to make one serious intervention in the ninth minute when Philly O'Dwyer got in on goal.

Otherwise, Tipperary's forwards fared badly in tussles for ball with their markers and the Lohans - Brian, who was exceptional through-out and Frank who overcame some recent problems of form to stick the pace with Liam Cahill and keep him scoreless - and Michael O'Halloran made their opponents' full-forward line a desolate and barren place.

At one stage Len Gaynor was remonstrating with Michael Cleary and O'Dwyer to get back in on the inside instead of rambling further afield in search of the ball and presumably, respite.

As Clare began to stack up a formidable lead, Tipperary had no answer and although Cahill nearly took advantage of a rare error off judgement on Frank Lohan's part in the 14th minute but drove the ball wide, the team went 23 minutes without adding to their early two points, by which stage they trailed 0-10 to 0-2 after a succession of smartly taken points.

The comeback that ensued was prefaced by a couple of significant moves. John Leahy, who had failed to reproduce his better form from the semi- final, was moved from midfield to wing forward from where he scored two points.

Into the middle went Tommy Dunne, who had been anonymous in his dealings with Liam Doyle, part of a powerful line together with Sean McMahon and captain Anthony Daly, his usual commanding self.

Declan Ryan was prominent at either end of the first half and his tally for the 35 minutes of three points, reflected the difficulty he caused McMahon at times, before Clare's centre-back rose to the challenge in the second half and drove his team back to the fore.

Clare finished the half with a definite goal chance, when Barry Murphy slipped in and touched the ball Just wide but their lead was diminished to 0-13 to 0-8.

Within 12 minutes of the restart, Tipperary were level. The whirlwind appeared to catch Clare unawares and they had no answer as five scores were engineered and finished it with a panache that suggested the ancient regime were not going to be (easily overthrown. They included slickly-taken scores by Declan Ryan and Kevin Tucker.

The uneasy feeling of crisis passed quickly, however, Shortly after Dunne had levelled the match with another of his seven frees on an afternoon of excellent free-taking, McMahon - his helmet discarded and sparks flying at the centre of the defence - hit a free of his own.

The ensuing eight-minute sequence of events stands out the free; the introduction of David Forde as substitute instead of the disappointing Stephen McNamara; Forde's point and then his goal.

McMahon's free halted Tipperary's momentum to the extent that they didn't score for a further 18 minutes. Forde's 46th-minute introduction gave the attack a cutting edge and within three minutes he had struck for a significant point, finishing off a move that began with another alert save from Fitzgerald, further defensive intervention from Brian Lohan and a long, relieving solo by O'Connor, whose energy and vision were beginning to turn the screws tightly.

The decisive blow came in the 52nd minute when Forde was set up by O'Loughlin, who was fouled laying off the ball but referee Pat O'Connor let play run and Forde came on to the pass like an express finished exuberantly to the net. When Dunne missed a free a minute later, the curtains were coming down on the Tipperary challenge.

To their credit, they rallied and picked off enough points to keep the alive until the very end when Leahy found himself face-to-face with a ground ball but fluffed the shot and the excellent Colin Lynch swept in to clear to safety.