In a match of championship intensity, it took a late long-range point from Seanie McMahon to divide these neighbouring sides at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick yesterday.

A crowd of 8,900, including 1,200 schoolchildren, were vastly entertained as the sides battled for supremacy in difficult conditions. The temperature of an intense match reached boiling point in the second half, with Fergus Tuohy of Clare and Stephen McDonagh of Limerick being sent off.

It had been hell-for-leather right from the start. Limerick seemed set to take a grip on the match when Mike Houlihan put them 1-4 to 0-4 ahead when he deceived the Clare goalkeeper Christy O'Connor with a dipping drive from 40 yards. The Clare man reached high above his head to grab the sliotar, but somehow missed his catch and the shot dropped behind him into the net.

Limerick quickly stretched their lead to five points through Ollie Moran and Shane O'Neill before points by Niall Gilligan (two) and Jamesie O'Connor from a free put a respectable look on the scoreboard (1-6 to 0-7) at the break.

Clare were level three minutes into the second half, with points from McMahon and O'Connor, from an acute angle, pinning Limerick back, and the visitors took the lead when Colin Lynch scored from a pass by his midfield partner Enda Flannery. It was hectic from then to the end with McMahon sealing it for Clare with two minutes left.

Before then matters got out of hand on a number of occasions with several scrimmages involving up to eight players attempting to take refereeing duties into their own hands.

Although much of this was harmless enough it became much more serious in the 18th minute of the half when hurleys were used liberally in a fracas in front of the Mackey stand. As a result Tuohy and McDonagh were sent off by referee Pat Ahern. It was clear that there was no love lost between the sides from the start but even so some fine hurling kept the big crowd alert right to the very end.

The players certainly did not betray any winter attitudes and when underfoot and overhead conditions improve later in the year there is a distinct promise of exciting times ahead if this match is anything to go by.

New names emerged with credit, and Limerick full back Brian Begley, in particular, gave a highly-encouraging display. The performance of the Mungret man in such a vital position surely lifted the selectors. Substitute James Moran also played well when he replaced James Butler at half-time. For Clare, however, it was to their veterans that they had to look, and Jamesie O'Connor and Anthony Daly shone. O'Connor contributed four points, and also made a valuable impact when frequently dropping back to support his midfielders. He now goes for a holiday in the US and will surely be missed when Clare face Offaly next week.

Not surprisingly, Clare manager Ger Loughnane was upbeat afterwards. He admitted that his side was fully aware that Limerick would "make a huge effort" to put some poor displays behind them.

"Nobody should write them off for the championship. That match today was worth two or three weeks' training and we both learned a lot from each other and about each other.

"We needed to wipe away the cobwebs and although there was lot of wild pulling at times I felt that the referee should have been stricter with both sides earlier on and if he had been the sendings off might have been avoided.

"But it was a great contest and very enjoyable to watch. We now have to beat Offaly next week to keep the momentum going," he said.

His opposite number, Eamon Cregan, was not too disappointed. "The players discussed matters among themselves last week and we knew we had to improve. I am happy that we did that and I think that we deserved at least a draw.

"Some people have said that we have an ageing team but the average age today was 24 and that's not too bad. I think we can look forward to a bright future," he said.

CLARE: C O'Connor; J Reddan, B Lohan, F Lohan; L Doyle, S McMahon (0-2 both frees), A Daly (0-1); C Lynch (0-3), E Flannery; J O'Con- nor (0-4 one free), N Gilligan (0-2), L Hassett; D Forde (0-1), R O'Hara, A Markham (0-1, free). Subs: B Murphy for Forde (43 mins); S Tuohy for Hassett (45 mins).

LIMERICK: J Quaid; S McDonagh, B Begley, B Geary; D Clarke, C Carey, M Foley; O Moran (0-1), J Foley; TJ Ryan (0-1), M Houlihan (1-1), M Galligan (0-4, three frees); J Butler, S O'Neill (0- 2), B Foley. Subs: J Moran for Butler (half-time); D Ryan for B Foley (55 mins).

Referee: P Aherne (Carlow).