In the Clare dressingroom conditions are cramped and the air is drying out with the sprayed fragrances of deodorants. The occupants have composed themselves. What needs to be said has been said. They have been down this road before. A lot done, a lot left to do.

In one corner sit two old soldiers. Jamesie O'Connor and Brian Lohan have been through good times and bad together. Their names feature in every chapter of Clare's hurling decade. Yesterday they hurled their way into a new era. Clare's rebuilding has been slow, but recession may be brief.

Meanwhile, Jamesie has a cut on his face, a towel around his waste, a request to go and chat to the The Sunday Game and a queue of people waiting to speak with him.

Funny thing. After years of carrying the Clare attack around on his back, he's looked jaded for the past few seasons and this year, plagued by niggling injuries, he asked himself, for the first time, if he had the appetite for another summer. By this week he knew he wanted it, the sole worry was whether Cyril Lyons believed in him any longer. Perhaps he wouldn't start.

"I've gone through a bad patch the last 12 months, in particular. Lots of small things. I had to ask myself questions about the hunger - if I still had it. Today I'm glad. Everyone fought to the bitter end today. Hopefully some good days will come out of this. I wouldn't be that pleased with my contribution today, but it was good to be on."

One thing about Jamesie; there is scarcely a smarter sportsperson in Ireland. He knew what people were saying, he knew that the longer you hang about the swifter and more damning the revisionism on your contribution becomes. He knew, too, that those who had stayed in the Clare jersey were a little different.

"Yeah, face it, none of us are getting younger, but Brian is an extraordinary character (he nods towards Lohan). Frank, Seanie, Colin Lynch, a lot of people wrote them off, but they're special people. We wanted this and we planned for it. In fairness to Tipp, we were waiting for them. Cyril reminded us all week that we'd the work done. They'd played a lot in the league and lost three big players. We were ready for this."

Beside him, Brian Lohan is stoic as ever. Early in the game Lohan felt his knee complain and, for a few minutes, he hobbled with his hurl as a crutch, then received some attention and hobbled on. By the second half he was making the customary bull runs out of defence, hurling ball down the field as the crowd roared.

"I'd some small problems with the knee early on. It didn't disappear and I'll have to get it looked at, but when the pressure comes on, you forget about those things." Had he any sense that Clare had a day like yesterday in them, a fully-charged 70 minutes with spadework and grace notes applied in equal measure. He seems surprised that the question is even asked.

"Yeah. We worked hard. We listened to a lot of old stuff about there being only two teams in the country, and we waited and planned. We had the sense all week that it was there for us. The dressingroom was keyed up beforehand. There was hardly any need for anything to be said. We went out and worked hard from start to finish."

That work rate, the frenzied harassment of every Tipp player who lit on the ball was an essential part of the gameplan. "We wanted to pressurise," said Cyril Lyons. "We played a high-pressure game, we respond well to that sort of thing. We posed a question during the week about Tipp, we've lost by two points and one point in the last couple of years and we asked the players if they were happy with that, if they were content to come and get close and be good losers year after year.

"We had to decide if we wanted to be winners or just good losers. After that, the ability was there. We got written off after the All-Ireland last year. People forgot, you have to be reasonable to get to an All-Ireland." Lyons had a clear view of the exchanges which led to the dismissals of Sean McMahon and John Carroll. He didn't argue the point, but reflected on the person.

"It didn't affect the outcome of the game and I feel so sorry for Sean. He's hurled for Clare for 10 years and never been sent off. It's a huge loss."

In the Tipp dressingroom, Michael Doyle was in a different frame of mind, but winners get to write history.

"I thought the sendings-off were soft," said Doyle. "I didn't think either deserved it. It was a hard, physical game, but I thought the sendings-off were soft. There's no point in feeling sorry for yourself. We've had seven weeks and nine games. I didn't think that would take it out of the lads, but conditions were heavy and that didn't help.

"I'm fierce disappointed, but we'll just have to get on with it. We started fine in the first 10 minutes, but once they got the first goal, they opened up too big a gap. In the second half, we started coming back, but needed a goal and never got that. Cyril Lyons said it himself, that any breaks, Clare got. But you have days like that.

"The next game is on June 15th and we have to wait for Cork-Clare because whoever loses is back in it with us, but, to be honest, at this stage I'm not worrying about that. Next weekend we'll have a good chat and see where we go from here. We've a strong panel, but things didn't happen for us today. I've no crib. Everyone gave 100 per cent."

On the terraces, Tipp folk might beg to differ. All gave some, but only some gave all.