Reporters besiege Tipperary captain Tommy Dunne. He is as calm and unassuming under this sort of pressure as he looks in the eye of hurling storms on the field. It is a pleasant duty to explain how your first title defence has gone successfully despite coping with a host of injuries. Named at centre forward but operating in his more familiar centrefield environment, Dunne has had a good vantage point from which to judge the performance.

"The spirit has always been good and there was tremendous commitment and heart out there. We seemed to respond very well and whenever they got a big score we came back at them."

Clare's two goals were immediately followed by Tipp scores - in the case of David Forde's first goal, all three points were reclaimed in quick succession. But Dunne is anxious to pay tribute to the entire team effort.

"Backs set the tone of games and it gives fellas up the field great heart when you see your defence coping so well." There was particular praise for two of the replacements introduced. Both Conor Gleeson and Noel Morris had their best championship performances.

"It just shows you how far the team has come," said Dunne. "The lads were a huge loss but, in fairness, Conor and Noel did very well. That's important because it's no longer a 15-a-side game."

For Gleeson it was particularly sweet. As a young man he captained Tipperary to the 1997 All-Ireland final.

Since then he has never managed to nail down a first-team place but yesterday he represented his credentials.

"I've been on the panel since 1995," he said, "and that was the best game of my life. Everyone from the full-back line up just hassled and hassled and hassled."

Still this was no cake walk and a late goal for Clare threw the match into the hazard.

"The second goal was a brilliant goal," said Gleeson. "I was only after asking the referee before that how long was left. He said three and a half minutes. He must have said 23 and a half minutes because that's what it felt like. It was great to hear the final whistle." Noel Morris carried his good form into the dressingroom with only a little fatigue to dampen his spirits.

"I'm fairly tired. It was a very exciting game. I was introduced in a baptism of fire in last year's Munster final. I said then that I'd make the best of my next chance. I was never as nervous before a game as today. It was way faster than the League."

Did he feel that he's laid down a marker for the centrefield place in the absence of injured All Star Eddie Enright? "Hopefully, we'll be progressing at full strength. No matter how well you play, they're quality players."

Clare captain Brian Lohan was more relaxed than after previous championship defeats. The qualifier system this year liberates the county from a long and idle summer in the wake of a third successive defeat by Tipperary.

"We have put in a good bit of work but we were beaten by two points and deserved to be beaten. It's very disappointing because we felt really confident going into this," he said.

"But it's less disappointing than last year. At least all that work wasn't for nothing and we'll have a few weeks to prepare and that will be to our advantage; we definitely need to work on fitness. We faltered at the end and I was wrecked."