Before the match started, Kilkenny were at a disadvantage. I had heard from Kilkenny during the week that John Costello had been playing full back in training, so they must have known about Liam Simpson's injury, but Michael Phelan's absence was a complete surprise, partly cancelled out by Fergie Tuohy's withdrawal from the Clare attack.

This was an amazing game. From the first minute, Clare ran at the Kilkenny defence, did everything at speed and had their opponents at sixes and sevens. They dominated centre-field and never allowed Kilkenny's forwards to settle, and half of their scores in the first half came from placed balls.

DJ Carey wasn't on form and a couple of early frees went against him. On one occasion the ball didn't go forward when he rose it but came back which upset his rhythm and he mis-hit the shot. No matter where he went on the field, he was being closed down, by Liam Doyle at first, and then Brian Lohan, who gave another great display.

John Power wasn't in the game and his contribution was below what was expected. When you saw him going off in the second half, you knew that things had reached crisis point for the team. Anthony Daly played him out of it and there was no one to break ball for Kilkenny, which wouldn't have helped DJ.

For most of the match, he was living off scraps. The rest of the attack suffered as you'd expect when three lads under 5ft 10in are taking on 6ft 2in defenders made of muscle and bone. When Kilkenny's forwards played, it was in fits and starts, but even that was limited.

Clare also had the outstanding individual on the pitch. Jamesie O'Connor had, in my view, a magnificent game and like DJ Carey two weeks ago, made a huge difference. He popped up everywhere, his running on and off the ball was excellent and his free-taking was flawless.

The forwards in general hunted in packs and moved some good cross-field ball. Only Fergal Hegarty - twice - went for his own score when a pass to a better-placed teammate was on.

Playing against the breeze, Davy Fitzgerald never hit his puck-outs long to the forwards. He always dropped it a bit short, and Clare won most the breaks, allowing them to run at the defence and there was always someone up in support to take the pass. They should have put more on the scoreboard because you need enough to withstand the comeback when it arrives.

At times, they over-ran the ball and got caught in possession, but mostly they created big problems for Kilkenny's half backs and put them under enormous pressure, leaving Willie and Eddie O'Connor trying to fill holes on the inside.

Again, the Clare defence was remarkable. I don't remember any of those guys ever being taken off in a championship match and their understanding is almost instinctive.

By half-time Kilkenny weren't at the races. Their striking was poor, getting only 30, 40 or 50 yards on the ball. This was largely because they were under so much pressure. If one Clare man missed his opponent, another one was quickly on hand. Clare were stopping the ball in broken play so that Kilkenny players had difficulty rising the ball and when they succeeded, they were shut down.

Everyone expected Kilkenny to start the second half the way they had done against Galway in the quarter-final. Ger Loughnane was obviously aware of the danger and must have drummed it into Clare at half-time that there could be no let-up, because they came out and scored the first three points after the break.

What I particularly liked about Clare - although my match prediction ended up all wrong - was the way in which they played as a team. The subs went in to do a job and did it - David Forde's first touch was over the bar - and there was no sulking from the players they replaced when they went off.

Clare can do this because they've such a core of experience and can introduce newer faces at various stages without disrupting their pattern.

Ger Loughnane said afterwards that Clare had played fantastic hurling for 45 minutes. They need to do it for the full 70. If Davy Fitzgerald hadn't made a good save from the penalty, the match might have been different, and there was danger once Carey scored the goal with 15 minutes to go.

At this stage, Clare had to grind. It was like in golf when you're not playing well and have to hang in there and minimise the advantage your opponent can take. They never panicked, even when Kilkenny were coming close, and their experience as a unit showed.

Overall, Clare read the game so much better than Kilkenny, who played into their hands by getting involved in all those shemozzles. One amazing statistic also showed how much they've learned - they had no wides in the second half despite playing with the wind.