WHEN 60 minutes worth of championship intensity hurling had finished Tipperary cut loose with some championship style celebrations. The audio evidence from the respective dressing rooms in Ennis on Saturday evening was sufficient to tell the tale. While Tipperary whooped, Clare wept. With summer so close the phrase "only the league" seemed suddenly redundant.

Saturday night's defeat leaves Clare in pole position to claim the last relegation spot from Division One. With the championship looming next weekend that will be among the least of Clare's worries, however. Three successive league defeats have sapped the momentum of a side who started the year among the short odds favourites for glory.

Every time Ger Loughnane and his selectors plug a gap in the Clare team these days another leak seems to spring from somewhere. "It's deeply disappointing of course" said Loughnane afterwards shuttling about outside the morgue that was the Clare dressingroom. "We struggled in certain areas and didn't get the reward for pressure. We'll just have to keep on with it."

Where Clare are going to find the personnel from is a problem. The defence has been leaking goals for some games now and on Saturday the management opted for the starting six backs from the AllIreland final of two years ago. Brian Quinn might be considered unfortunate to have been left out, but the performance of the old hands was sufficient to settle most arguments. The full back line are still easily mistaken for three grim reapers in a bad mood.

Elsewhere there was trouble, though. The midfield creaked and when the pace hotted up in the second half Clare struggled for want of a couple of freescoring forwards.

For Tipperary the auguries were almost all positive. Gaps still remain, but they look like a team moving somewhere. They battled hard and honestly in midfield, Declan Ryan had another big game at centre forward, and the second half introduction of John Leahy passed off successfully enough to suggest that the Mullinahone man might make his mark on the summer. They still want for a big frill forward who might supply the flashy lightweights around him. Declan Ryan may yet find himself back in the square.

That the game stood for more than mere league points was clear from the niggling and passionate nature of the early exchanges. Several players were of the view that Saturday night was alright for fighting. As early as the seventh minute referee Pat Horan warned Aidan Flanagan and Mike O'Halloran about their future behaviour. By then they were merely the most notorious of the recidivists about the place.

Clare had started in perky enough fashion scoring three points in quick reply to Kevin Tucker's opening point. After that it was nip and tuck for most of the half with the sides level six times, but Tipperary perhaps having slightly the better of the business.

The most distressing moment for Clare came in the 15th minute when Davy Fitzgerald chased down a ball, otherwise a hopeless cause, and suddenly found himself dispossessed and stranded far from his goal. Liam Cahill, who did the plundering, shared the spoils with Tomas Dunne who scored a cracking goal to give Tipperary a two point lead.

The score was a body blow but Clare kept on their feet and scored the next three points with Jamesie O'Connor and Niall Gilligan making most of the incisions.

The teams went to the break on level terms, but Tipperary started the second half with Leahy in harness and looking hungry. They had five wides and three points before Clare had a scoring opportunity.

It was during this period of white hot pressure that the difficulties Clare face became most evident. David Forde is not cutting sufficient dash at midfield and he swapped places with O'Connor early on in the half. Ollie Baker wasn't faring significantly better, however, and he had the briefest of sojourns at full forward before being called ashore.

Up front Gilligan and Barry Murphy, who had looked so promising before the break, became more peripheral. Centre forward remains a troublesome area and Clare must sometimes yearn for the day when technology permits them to create a few Jamesie O'Connor clones to pep the forward line. At halftime Clare introduced Andrew Whelan up front in pace of PJ O'Connell.

Whelan, now returned from a long stint in the US, didn't make a huge impact, but his experience presents Loughnane and co with a viable option in an area where Clare have been struggling.

With a refitted midfield and a new sense of desperation, Clare enjoyed much the best of the final quarter but they lacked a cutting blade.

By then, too, they were missing Frank Lohan who was sent off in the 49th minute when he bundled over young Kevin Tucker as the Nenagh man bore down on goal. On an afternoon when many were content to live by the sword, Lohan's crime was hardly the most heinous but he could take consolation from the fact that Leahy's subsequent penalty was deflected wide.

Tipperary held on in the end for a one point win, surviving the theatrical flourish of Fitzgerald's long trip upfield to take a close in free which was deflected over the bar for the last score of the game.

"Of course I'm very happy," said Tipperary manager Len Gaynor afterwards. "We did well everywhere on the pitch, we were very strong in defence, especially when they put pressure on us in the second half. A very encouraging performance.