From the moment both teams arrived on the field to a back-drop of reverential hush with not one single hand clap to be heard, it was clear at Tullamore yesterday that the All-Ireland football "B" championship is at a cross-roads in terms of popularity. The players like it but the spectators don't.
Those who did not join the meagre attendance, did not miss a lot, apart from a demonstration of how to score from the Clare attack leader, Martin Daly.
Commenting on the atmosphere or the lack of it, Clare manager John O'Keeffe could only say "It's a pity the way the competition is belittled by the supporters; the players like playing in it and from my personal point of view it provides the squad with a great start in a competitive sense in preparation for the League."
O'Keeffe's team was far too good for a hugely disappointing Monaghan. Clare's second-half display with the prolific Martin Daly firmly at the controls up front generally saw the Ulster side struggling.
Daly, scored 1-6 of the Clare tally and let us in on the secret of his success.
"John [O'Keeffe] has been letting us concentrate more on ball practice this side of the Christmas break for a change. This has enabled me to do a lot of shooting at the posts."
Daly's goal was a gem, 22 minutes into the second half for a 1-12 to 0-7 advantage.
He took a clever square pass from attacking centre back Brendan Rouine and regathered a partial block down by a dispairing Monaghan boot to send a searing shot into the left corner from 20 metres.
At the centre of Clare's fluency and passing movements was an inspiring midfield pairing in Donal O'Sullivan and Peter Cosgrove.
Ger Keane did not start in the winners' attack but when he came on to replace his deputy Ger Quinlan, midway through the second half, his two points contribution added to Monaghan woes.
Monaghan did respectably well to stay in the hunt during the opening 30 minutes and were only two points in arrears at the break, 0-7 to 0-5.Behind that statistic however was a goal-shy performance by Clare and ironically Daly was among the culprits not to hit the Monaghan net when the chance arose.
Nevertheless, good free taking by Gary Meehan and accuracy from the hands from Gerard McGuirk and Mark Daly largely kept Monaghan in touch. Some bad wides, one particularly wayward one by wing forward Peter Duffy was, unfortunately for Monaghan, an indication of what was to follow. Meehan, from a close free, and Duffy from a few yards out had morale-damaging wides to bring the side's total to eight just before Martin Daly saw them off with that sizzling goal.
Daly's last point was a classic and perhaps a clear example of how nothing can go wrong when operating in complete confidence. He remarkably slotted this score from an acute angle from way out on the right touch line. No wonder he instantly raised his two arms in celebration. Clare had to improvise at the start with Denis O'Driscoll going from right corner forward to right corner back. Johnnie Enright was introduced, to splendid effect, into right corner forward and Quinlan deputised at right wing forward for Keane.
Despite the largely disappointing opposition it proved a very satisfactory day for O'Keeffe's players. They will be looking for a second title this decade - they won it 1992. Louth, on the evidence of the first semi-final may not cause too many problems for the well-knit Munster side.
Clare: J Hanranhan; D O'Driscoll, F Griffin, A Malone; B Keating (0-1), B Rouine, C O'Loughlin; D O'Sullivan (0-1) P Cosgrove; G Quinlan, M Daly (1-6, one free), C Shannon (0-1); J Enright (0-1), A Daly (0-2), P McMahon (0-3). Subs: C Nagle for Griffin (40 mins), G Keane (0-2) for Quinlan (43 mins), J Daly for Shannon (56 mins).
Monaghan: G Murphy; E Murphy, D McDermott, N Marron; D McArdle, D Duffy, J Conlon; C Ronaghan, M Daly (0-1); F Duffy (0- 1), G McGuirk (0-2), P Duffy (0-1); D Freeman (0-1) S Mullen, G Meehan (0-2 frees) Subs: K Hughes for Mark Daly (half time); G Flanagan for Duffy (43 mins); P McDonald (0-2) for Meehan (48 mins).
Referee: S McCormack (Meath).
