There is a local, intimate sort of deliciousness to this kind of winning. The footballers are already tapping around on the turf when the Clare boys float past, under the wire mesh which leads to the cramped and steamy Hogan side dressing-rooms.
"It's different all right," nods Jamesie O'Connor, remembering the mystical intensity of those Banner Septembers. "Maybe with the county, there is more of a buzz, but the special thing about this is playing alongside the lads you grew up with, along with your brother, you know. Means so much to this parish."
O'Connor, spikey-haired, sleek-limbed nightmare to all measure of defenders, sent four balls whistling across the bar over the course of the hour yet raises his eyes at the question of personal satisfaction.
"I started enjoying it when the final whistle went, you know. Ah, I had a good oul tussle with Rod Guiney. But in general, we have a really balanced team, a lot of good players and I'm sure one or two of them now will get the chance with Clare."
Outside, coach Louis Mulqueen is also happily explaining why the scales rest so easily. "This is a good, balanced team. We began working with them over a year ago, tinkering about so that when Ollie and Jamesie and Seanie came back after the Offaly game, we could play fast hurling, which is what I wanted. "It was just a matter of gelling it together. We brought two backs, Lorcan (Hassett) and Ciaran O'Neill, and they contributed a wealth to our attack today. It worked well," he says.
"We had a lot of braveness out there today. Joe Considine played with a damaged hamstring. . . and he gave us some great ball. And Ollie, well, he had two fingers strapped and I don't think he would have played many other games the condition he was in, but he contributed so much for us today. But it was a team effort."
With the St Joseph's full-back line indomitable and Seanie McMahon thundering ball from deep, the front players cut loose, Andrew Whelan bustling about with the manic economy patented by Jamesie, O`Neill winning untold ball and Lorcan Hassett. . . well, entering the dream zone. You're 24, captaining your parish and you nail 1-5 from play. Frame it.
"The ball doesn't always run like that - I think the last time I was under-12 . . . To get away from the muck of Mount Sion and Ennis and play in weather like this was an outstanding feeling. This is our day, the way we like to play it, moving quick ball to our forwards," he gushes. Christy O'Connor squeezes his goalkeeper's frame onto the bit of bench he's claimed for himself. Jamesie's kid brother is just glad to see the sweaty side of the fabled old ground.
"We won a colleges title with Flannan's in 1991 and it was meant to be played here but they switched it. Then we made a mess of things with the Clare minors and that was that chance gone. So coming up here, I was determined to enjoy it but I wasn't here to admire the place."
The trip is not always a happy one. Rathnure coach Dan Quigley stares bleakly through the dozen recorders thrust in his face. "Too many, too many," he says softly. "That's five (All-Irelands) I've lost with Rathnure. They just got every break and fair play to them, they made their own chances. I thought we were well in it after 20 minutes, but the goal Whelan got seemed to lift them.
"We needed a goal but never looked like getting one. St Joseph's back line was just brilliant. This is hard for us but I suppose that feeling sorry for yourself or whatever doesn't win you an All-Ireland. That's the trouble."
