Tipperary have sprung a surprise by leaving Declan Carr out of their side for the Munster hurling championship semi-final against Clare at Pairc Ui Chaoimh on Sunday.

His place at centrefield will be taken by Conor Gleeson, who captained Tipperary in 1997 when they were beaten by Clare in the Munster and All-Ireland finals. Carr is named amongst the substitutes.

It is a major surprise given that it was believed that Carr, captain of Tipperary's 1991 All-Ireland winning team, was brought back into the squad by manager Nicky English to give a physical presence to the Tipp centrefield specifically for the meeting with Clare.

Indeed, Carr, who had a five-year stint away from inter-county hurling, played well against Clare in the National League semi-final last month, in the league final against Galway and in the championship first round game against Kerry.

John Leahy is named at left-half forward. In the Kerry game and in the league final, he was named in the corner, but switched with Brian O'Meara from the throw-in.

Clare supporters, meanwhile, were relieved last night to hear that Ollie Baker is fit and well and is selected to play at midfield in the side to face Tipperary. An observer at the Clare training session in Ennis declared that Baker "was flying" and went through a severe training session without any ill-effects. Baker damaged ankle ligaments recently and on Monday he was said to have no better than a 50 per cent chance of making Sunday's match.

Clare include one newcomer to championship hurling - Enda Flannery from the Whitegate club will line out at right corner back. The side is generally as expected. There was a belief that the recently-returned Conor Clancy might line out at full forward but Stephen McNamara is named at number 14.

TIPPERARY (SH v Clare): B Cummins; D Fahey, F Heaney, L Sheedy; C Bonnar, D Kennedy, E Corcoran; C Gleeson, D Enright; T Dunne, D Ryan, J Leahy; L Cahill, P Shelly, B O'Meara. Subs: K O'Brien, G Frend, B Horgan, D Carr, A Ryan, G Maguire, E Tucker, E O'Neill, P Kelly.

CLARE: (SH): D Fitzgerald; E Flannery, B Lohan, F Lohan; L Doyle, S McMahon, A Daly; O Baker, C Lynch; J O'Connor, N Gilligan, D Forde; B Murphy, S McNamara, A Markham.