AT A certain stage of this extraordinary Guinness Munster hurling semi final, fate decided to settle a few outstanding bills. How Clare lost their All Ireland and Munster titles is hard to explain, given the level of their dominance. But for Limerick it was the sweetest of victories, a strange mirror image of the team's most devastating defeat - and of some of Clare's memorable triumphs last year.

In 1994, Limerick lost an All Ireland in the last five minutes by conceding 2-5 without reply. Yesterday, to the delirious accompaniment of their incredulous fans in the crowd of 43,534, Limerick pulled back a three point deficit in four minutes and, in injury time, Ciaran Carey, quiet for much of the afternoon, broke from midfield, rode a couple of challenges and drove over the winning point to conclude an astonishing match.

It wasn't that the standard of hurling ever rose above the mundane - there were too many mistakes - but for a team as much in control of a match as Clare had been, to lose was remarkable.

Attempting to identify the reasons why Clare lost the match is difficult, but roughly the disaster was caused by an accumulation of problems: the abject failure to turn territorial advantage and superior possession into scores, a number of, at the time, apparently trivial mistakes and the inability to develop a three point lead into something more representatively substantial.

The statistics tell the story. Fourteen wides indicate the level of wastefulness. Mistakes cost scores. For example, Liam Doyle, who otherwise hurled brilliantly, lost the ball for Barry Foley's injury time point which tied up the match. In the 57th minute, Sean McMahon converted a 65 to open tip a three point lead for the second time. but not only did Clare fail to extend that margin but they never scored again.

Limerick will be hugely relieved by the outcome. They would have known to expect a testing time after the bloodless victory in Cork last month, but they can hardly have imagined that they would be so comprehensively outplayed.

The victory is a tribute to their defiance. Despite having laboured for most of the match. they had the stomach to hit back once Clare's lassitude had left the door slightly ajar. At worst, Clare looked vulnerable to a sucker punch goal. In fact it was a succession of points that did the damage, but Limerick should have been left a long way behind by that stage.

Gary Kirby's opportunism, particularly from placed balls, kept Limerick alive, but the overall performance was limited. Mike Houlihan, whose colossal display against Cork had been so influential, was subdued as Clare got the better of midfield with Fergal Hegarty the most effective player in the area.

Limerick's attack was poor. Apart from Kirby, who took 1-7 of the winners' total, and substitute Barry Foley, who fired over two points after his 51st minute introduction, the forwards were comfortably contained by a superb Clare defence in which Brian Lohan at full back and captain Anthony Daly were outstanding.

At the back, Limerick did better. Full back Mike Nash, the most questioned member of the defence, had a reasonable match, seeing off the challenge of Con or Clancy but struggling to contain second half substitute Eamonn Taaffe.

Dave Clarke and Declan Nash exerted a strong influence and disposed of a couple markers. Mark Foley, the bright debutant of the Cork match, found Fergie Tuohy, who took three points off him, a rougher proposition, but he mounted a good recovery towards the end of the match and emerged with the ball on several occasions to relieve his defence.

Questions will be asked about Clare's selection. The team was well drilled and looked to be overcoming the comparative lack of match practice, and in many ways were as impressive as last season. But the bench was forced to replace half their starting attack. PJ O'Connell, Clancy and Stephen McNamara all played poorly, whereas Taaffe greatly energised the full forward line when he came on at half time.

Taaffe's influence waned somewhat, but he did enough to pose the question as to why he didn't start. He was deprived of what would have been the decisive score when, with 13 minutes left. he took a lovely crossed ball from substitute Ronan O'Hara and went for goal. The attempt was blocked by corner back Declan Nash for the 65 that yielded the losers' final score.

Still, the productivity of the attack wasn't bad. Four of the seven forwards used scored more than once from play, and it looked until the end as if that would he enough.

Even the half tinge score was a little crazy. Clare had won a size able share of the first half possession but failed to exploit it because of inaccuracy and a debilitating predilection to toss out little slap passes instead of taking on point scoring chances.

In the 27th minute, Daly slipped for the only time and Padraig Tobin put Kirby clear for a goal which gave Limerick a 1-5 to 0-5 lead. That they had the five points was largely due to Kirby's freetaking, but the goal woke up Clare and the deficit was cut to a point.

Last year's big win in the Munster final saw Clare frustrate Limerick in a number of areas, but the chief protagonist was unable to repeat his performance. PJ O'Connell was clearly out of sorts. As a player whose game is based on taking the ball to hand and running his marker into the ground, he was hampered yesterday by a ruinous clumsiness.

His switch with Jamesie O'Connor helped O'Connor more than O'Connell, who had to move again to the corner before discovering a modicum of effectiveness.

The second half presented Clare with further opportunity to put the match beyond Limerick's reach but they were unable to. Limerick's substitutes added some urgency to the cause and Barry Foley started the comeback in the 67th minute. Kirby and Foley again levelled the score, before Carey's finale dramatically denied Clare even a replay in Thurles next week.

Limerick will now play Tipperary in the Munster final on July 7th, again at the Gaelic Grounds. They might have been fortunate, but Limerick have now accounted for Cork and Clare, and a talent for being ahead at the final whistle, regardless of merit, is a useful one in the Championship.