Limerick - 0-23 Clare - 0-9: All this springtime fervour on the Semple Stadium napkin is nothing but pretext to the looming summer, of course, but even making allowances for that, Limerick must have come away from Thurles yesterday with sufficient satisfaction to bury their recent, well-advertised dysfunctionality.
Limerick won this league quarter-final at a gallop, playing with 14 men for almost two-thirds of the game and exhibiting such sharpness and hunger that, by comparison, one had to suppose that Clare had either been hobbled by hard training or had their hunger dulled by age. Certainly this was a return to the pre-Loughnane insipidity.
So what if sideline meetings between the Limerick selectors take longer and have more controversy than GAA Congress itself? What is on the pitch is functioning with a vigour and appetite that justifies the hype. The 23,500 spectators saw them snap and whir like dervishes yesterday.
Mark Keane had nine points before he hit a wide. Steve McDonagh was back to the form which first marked him as special, and Brian Begley brought an unlikely touch both to the business of being a big man and being marked by Brian Lohan.
And while it has never been much of a boast to have snuffed out the Clare attack, this was done with such alacrity that Clare looked withered and worn long before full time.
In the end, Limerick had the luxury of being able to bring on substitutes just to provide the grace notes. Conor Fitzgerald scored two sublime points and Mick O'Brien scored one as fine as it was novel.
And Clare? The challenge has been to find new functioning parts, especially forward parts before the old, reliable components rust and fall away. Evidence suggests that the battle is being lost. David Forde scored two points from play yesterday, the sort of total which in Clare nowadays is enough to get one a reputation as being "prolific". Around him everything was flat, and John Reddan and Tony Carmody were the only other forwards to score from play.
There were mitigating circumstances of course. Niall Gilligan and Alan Markham were absent. Carmody, a big full forward of promise, didn't get the service and James O'Connor had one of those rare days when he was less than effervescent.
The feeling in the Clare dressing-room afterwards, however, was that the team had been "up" for the game, even with a couple of fringe players filling out the 15 they would have expected more form themselves.
Ollie Baker's form and energy seem to have waned drastically, and without him Colin Lynch looks like an ordinary midfielder. Lynch's partner, Joe Considine, has meat and energy, but against Ciaran Carey and Stephen Lucey those qualities were largely expended on chasing rather than being chased.
Limerick opened up early yesterday with a Mark Foley point which was quickly supplemented by frees from Mark Keane. Then came a good score from Ollie Moran after Brian Lohan was forced into a cul de sac while in possession.
After that Clare went looking for the morale-lifting moment. Carmody hit a splendid score from the left touchline from 21 yards out, but Clare found themselves chastised by a string of Limerick scores, two for Keane, one each for Foley and Quinn.
By the time Sean O'Connor had himself sent off for a second bookable offence, this time while Kenneth Kennedy lay on the ground, one suspected that no advantage in personnel would swing things Clare's way. To make the point, Clare scored next, through Keane again. They took a six-point lead to the break.
After the break Clare switched Frank Lohan and Seanie McMahon, leaving the latter as freeman, a platform from which we expected him to launch a series of thoughtful balls to his forwards. None such followed. McMahon hit a massive free early in the second half but there was no back-up movement, and Limerick had hit five more points and missed a possible goal chance before Limerick would get within a smell of the ball again.
The game played itself out with an eerie predictability. Limerick, having struck early, struck often. If it was a prequel for the summer they'll find it hard to sell tickets in Clare.
LIMERICK: J Quaid; D Reale, TJ Ryan, S McDonagh; P Lawlor, B Geary, M Foley (0-2); C Carey, S Lucey; O Moran (0-3), S O'Connor, B Foley (0-2); J Butler, B Begley (0-2), M Keane (0-11, eight frees). Subs: C Fitzgerald (0-2) for Butler (half-time) O O'Neill for Mark Keane (65 mins), M O'Brien (0-1) for P Lawler (66 mins), P Carey for C Carey (67 mins), JJ Ryan for Clem Smith (70 mins).
CLARE: D Fitzgerald; K Kennedy, B Lohan, F Lohan; D Henry, S McMahon (0-2, frees), Gerry Quinn; Colin Lynch, J Considine; O Baker, J O'Connor (0-4, 45s), David Forde (0-2); T Carmody (0-1), T Griffin, A Quinn. Subs: Andrew Quinn for V Considine (half-time), Conor Earley for James O'Connor (66 mins), Forde for Ollie Baker (66 mins).
Referee: A Macsuibhne (Dublin)
