Munster SHC Quarter-final: Clare 2-17 Tipperary 0-14 Tipperary, favourites for the Munster title, will play no further part in the provincial championship.
Dismantled by the best Clare display in four years, Michael Doyle's team limp off to the qualifiers thoroughly beaten and shaken by the extent of the damage.
Clare have been burning on a long fuse for this.
Three successive defeats by the county whose subjugation helped define the good old days of Ger Loughnane's reign had sharpened the old gnawing sense of grievance. The ferocity of the backlash startled everyone, most especially Tipperary, and drove a dominant performance that evoked vivid memories of the last decade.
Catapulted back onto the main stage, Clare's elation was dogged by one hugely significant qualification.
Captain Sean McMahon was red carded by referee Aodan MacSuibhne for an uncharacteristic act of madness when he swiped at Conor Gleeson in the 59th minute. The wheels of procedure have yet to roll, but the anxious whispers on the wind acknowledged the strong possibility of a 12-week suspension.
McMahon had been playing well, holding down the defence with customary authority. Once more, he and Brian Lohan delivered perfectly timed championship displays at the heart of the defence. As significant, and even more heartening, was the return to form of a number of prodigal talents.
James O'Connor posted his best championship performance since 1999, a vibrant, buzzing contribution that was rewarded early with an intensely celebrated goal. Starting at corner forward, he played a deep rather than roving role, he exerted constant pressure on the left side of Tipperary's vulnerable wings.
Tipperary's injury and suspension woes had helped the mood of expectation in Clare and towards the end of last week they sensed blood in the water. Not even the most predatory instincts could have anticipated how wounded Tipp were. It may be chicken-and-egg speculation but the confidence with which Clare went about ripping into the game immediately appeared to demoralise their opponents' weakened defence.
The longer that process went on the more pronounced the imbalance became. Lacking Philip Maher and Eamonn Corcoran - the very figures who would provide composure at the back - Tipperary were harassed and hunted.
Unable to deliver decent ball into the forwards, the scoring effort also suffered and it took 22 minutes for their first point from play - and only second of the day - to go over. By that stage they had leaked 2-4.
In the 14th minute, O'Connor's goal was set up by a powerful solo run from the excellent Colin Lynch, whose stamina and ubiquity took him into all the hot spots in the first half. Five minutes later, Lynch again created the opening for Andrew Quinn to squeeze the ball into the near side of Brendan Cummins's goal.
The Clare defence was as fiery and unleashed as the forwards and devoured Tipperary attacks, man and ball, to the extent that there was hardly room to breathe, let alone get off scoring shots. Eoin Kelly was forced to come deep for possession and everywhere he went Frank Lohan was there snapping and marking.
Rain had made the Páirc Uí Chaoimh slow and sticky.
Movements frequently ground to a halt and the ensuing scrums led to endless throw-ins. With no fast ball running their way, Tipperary's flank forwards had to scrap for possession and were over-powered in the process. It was further to Clare's credit that they suffered a couple of early setbacks in defence.
David Hoey had to be substituted in the sixth minute and shortly afterwards Brian Lohan injured his knee and wasn't at full tilt thereafter. Fortunately for Clare, Conor Plunkett - deemed unlucky in the county not to start - was an able replacement and the defence didn't appear to suffer at all.
Time after time in the first half they broke up attacks and with them the spirit of the Tipperary challenge. The crowd was little over the pessimistically anticipated 20,000, but the Clare contingent made themselves heard with every grimly dispatched clearance, which soared down field to the accompaniment of a sonic boom.
Tipperary had no answers and trailed by 11 points at half-time, 0-5 to 2-10, after an injury-time scoring blitz by Clare. A brisk, scoring start briefly raised hopes of a rally but Clare sniped back in broadly equal measure and without goals, as Doyle acknowledged afterwards, there was going to be no way back.
Lynch's efforts were hugely augmented after half-time by the input of his debutant partner Diarmuid McMahon.
His energy and hard work helped keep the ball moving relentlessly to the forwards and prevented any counter-momentum developing.
Tipperary tried a number of substitutions. Noel Morris didn't look 100 per cent, but Eoin Brislane, and later Eddie Enright, could find no purchase around the middle either. Tom Costello did tighten up in defence but there was no answer to Clare's ceaseless pressure.
Niall Gilligan, three points from both play and frees, and Alan Markham, two points and a high-voltage display, revived memories of their best without quite totally recapturing it but will be heartened by the improving trend.
Gilligan could have had a goal in the last minute of normal time but Cummins saved tremendously - as he had five minutes earlier when Tony Griffin had been sent in by a precisely placed ball from O'Connor.
In the incident that saw Sean McMahon, sidelined John Carroll - who had failed to make much impression on Brian Lohan - joined in one scuffle too many and received a second yellow thus removing any fleeting optimism that Tipp might have a man advantage in the last 10 minutes.
CLARE: D Fitzgerald; B Quinn, B Lohan, F Lohan; D Hoey, S McMahon (0-1, 1f), G Quinn; D McMahon (0-1), C Lynch (0-2); A Markham (0-2), T Griffin (0-1), T Carmody (0-1); N Gilligan (0-6, 3f), A Quinn (1-2), J O'Connor (1-1). Subs: C Plunkett for Hoey (6 mins).
TIPPERARY: B Cummins; M Maher, P Curran, B Dunne; B Horgan, D Kennedy, P Kelly; T Dunne (0-1), N Morris; B O'Meara (0-3), C Gleeson (0-1), L Cahill (0-1); E Kelly (0-7, 4f), J Carroll (0-1), L Corbett. Subs: E Brislane for Morris (33 mins), T Costello for Horgan (35 mins), E Enright for Corbett (50 mins), M O'Leary for Cahill (66 mins).
Referee: A MacSuibhne (Dublin).
