Michael Bond hasn't been around long enough for us to get all little jokes about his name out of our system. How was he after Clare's late equaliser. Shaken? Not stirred? It's the way we tell them, see.

"I am very disappointed," said Bond, Michael Bond. "I think we should have won. I think we were the better team on the day. A whole lot of people wrote us off, they said Antrim was a nobody.

"Antrim are one of the strongest teams in Ireland today and we were glad to beat them in the end."

All afternoon stingy defences thrived on the claustrophobic atmosphere of the game. In the dead and sticky heat players bunched and followed each other, just for the shade. Apart from Fergie Tuohy's goal-splashed dash into the prairie there was no free ball on offer. It pleased Bond to see it that way.

"I said all along the full-back line are equal if not better than any fullback line in Ireland. The whole back line, played in the All-Ireland in 1994 and again played in 1995. I think the forwards today probably should have scored more. And we conceded a few silly frees."

For Offaly, although they departed with regrets, yesterday was quite a rehabilitation from the shameful lashing they took in the Leinster final and the messy business of uncoupling themselves from Babs Keating. Michael Bond had reason to be pleased.

"We went ahead by four points and the team showed character.

"I am certainly proud to be part of the set-up. We just focussed on hurling all the time last week. We have a great bunch of lads, great discipline in our camp, great support from the county board and all the selectors."

So how come you didn't win today?

"How come we didn't win today? I thought there were a lot of questionable frees given against us. I think we conceded some silly frees. I thought the goal they scored when we were on top, we were opened up, something we were trying to avoid all along. I'm not blaming the corner backs; the thing is the men out the field just moved out and left the space inside and that's what Clare were trying to do with us all day."

So Michael Bond prepares to take his leave from us. Shy retiring chap.

"I predicted it would be a low scoring game. I was right. Anybody who wanted to listen to me knew from me that this Offaly team was as good as any around. I'm not always right but I'm never wrong."

In the Clare dressing-room Jamesie O' Connor and Frank Lohan sit side by side behind Ger Loughnane lifting their ears occasionally to catch the drift of his latest fireside chat. Jamesie has a little iceberg strapped onto his deadened right leg. He's downbeat and subdued. Not at all like a man whose free has brought the team back from the valley of death.

"We didn't play particularly well, you know. It was unbelievably hot out there. Conditions had a huge bearing on it. Particularly around puck-outs, we were playing right into Offaly's hands by bunching. They closed us down well.

"I think the draw was fair enough. OK we got the last point but they won't have any difficulty with the result."

There was a slight but discernible chill as the media drifted in. Neither side was waving white flags. We talked about the weather.

"The conditions had a huge bearing," said Jamesie. "It's all right to say you go out and play a hundred miles an hour but you are conscious deep down that you have to keep something in reserve for the second half. Everybody was pacing themselves a bit today. We just didn't play with any fluidity. We didn't hurl well today."

All that fuss and bother which Clare had been engaged in all week had in theory been a thing apart from the match. Players seemed to feel it as a distraction however.

"It had an unsettling affect," said Jamesie. "Every person you met wanted to talk about it. It's very hard when it is constantly around you to just ignore it. It had an unsettling effect on me. A few of the lads were bitter about what was written about a couple of the guys and how Colin Lynch in particular was treated. That does get to you. It's over now though."

Clare's emergency mendings hadn't come undone during the game. Jamesie O'Connor felt the strain had revealed itself in other places "My attitude was that the two boys coming in weren't going to let us down. It was up to the rest of us to maintain our performance levels and maybe I didn't do that and some of the rest of the lads didn't do that either. I wouldn't be happy with the way I played.

"Richie Woods did very well. Things didn't go so well maybe for Hego at midfield."

Beside him, Frank Lohan looks thoughtful. What was it like not having Brian (Lohan) out there?

"To look after me is it? Ah, it was disappointing for Brian that he wasn't playing. Richard Woods had a fine game though. He's been waiting a long time and I think he is a fine hurler. Brian is a very good player and obviously you are going to miss him. The crowd sort of really take to him as well. Hopefully he'll be back the next day and we'll take it from there."

It was a curious sort of after-match scene. The game didn't appear to have engaged Clare's collective imagination and talk rambled toward speculation as to the date of the replay, and would they be stitched up by having to play next Saturday before Brian Lohan's suspension elapsed. Frank Lohan had found little surprising about Offaly's vimful performance.

"We played them in the league and it was physical so that was expected. They are good hurlers as well. John Ryan plays football and he has a lot of strength. They are all strong men.

"It was tough but it was fair."