Towards the end of yesterday's Guinness Munster hurling semi-final, Ger Loughnane - cleared by the authorities to take his place on the sideline - promenaded down the line and, as he passed, the Clare support rose to him. He carried on apparently heedless but afterwards admitted that he had never been as wound up for a match.

His team delivered in style with as powerful a performance as they have ever given in the last four hectic years which have raised Clare to hurling's pinnacle. Yesterday they came face-to-face with the game's most highly regarded newcomers, recently-crowned National League winners Cork who had comfortably dismissed Limerick in the first round.

Cork's defeat of Clare by 11 points in last month's league semi-final had never been entirely accepted at face value and didn't even appear to have had much of a motivational impact on Clare. Now it will merely add to the bulging file on famously incongruous league results.

Maybe it was the challenge to their patch, maybe the sight of Cork people once more satisfied that they had a team which could compete at the highest level, but whatever was motivating the All-Ireland champions was clearly high-octane stuff.

Their defence gradually tightened the noose on Cork's young forwards and by the end had choked the life out of them. Four points from play was the challengers' lot and not one of the six managed any period of domination on their markers.

Even Alan Browne, who spun his usual spell on Brian Lohan for a while and won the first four balls between them, was unable to do anything constructive with the possession and long before the end, Lohan had asserted his dominion and was making the characteristic stooping runs out from defence.

On either side of Lohan, his brother Frank was containing Cork's main gun Joe Deane and replacement Brian Quinn was doing the same to Sean O'Farrell, the young corner forward who has been so prominent in Cork's recent successes.

Clare's midfield was dominant. Ollie Baker hurled from where he had left off last September and Colin Lynch showed a return to the form of last season, form that hadn't been conspicuous this year until yesterday.

The attack was even more of a success. Every forward scored from play, including substitute Ger `Sparrow' O'Loughlin and in all 0-16 was scored from play. The full-forward line of Niall Gilligan, Eamonn Taaffe and Alan Markham shared nine points from play equally among themselves and played well.

Markham's appearance, together with that of Brian Quinn at corner back, was the subject of controversy. As before last year's All-Ireland final, Loughnane and his selectors sprang a surprise by naming players who hadn't been picked. Gilligan was sprung last September whereas yesterday both Quinn and Markham took the field unannounced.

Loughnane believes that such procedures protect young players on the verge of a championship debut and had warned the players last week not to pay any attention to the team as announced. There are of course fall-guys in this process as the doleful countenance of Michael O'Halloran indicated. Yesterday morning was the first he'd heard of not being on the team.

In the aftermath of such a convincing win, there'll be few quibbles from within the camp - at least not public ones. That it would be a convincing win was obvious from halftime. Clare took Cork's best punches in the first half and yet trailed by only a point, 0-8 to 0-9, at the interval. Cork had chances to build a more formidable lead. As early as the second minute, Deane was straight through but shot poorly, straight at David Fitzgerald.

Although Clare weren't motoring in the early stages they were drawing down scores at a consistent rate and preventing Cork from pulling away. Gradually their defence was coming to grips with their opponents. Sean McMahon, after a difficult opening few minutes on Fergal McCormack, established himself well and hurled magnificently at centre back.

Liam Doyle subdued Kieran Morrison and Anthony Daly stuck with Seanie McGrath, who had given him such a hard time a year ago. Despite virtually eliminating the threat, Daly remarked afterwards that his marker had still got away twice in the second half for points.

More deadly for Cork was the lack of impact on their own half-back line. Normally the line has been a strong foundation on which the team has built but yesterday, even Brian Corcoran and Sean O hAilpin were not sufficiently in control of their primary duties to be able to exert more wide-ranging influence.

Eventually O hAilpin moved to midfield in a switch with Mick Daly. For a long time in the second half, Cork plugged away within range of the champions who took five minutes to overturn the half-time deficit and lead by one. Sparrow O'Loughlin was introduced to add some guile to the full-forward line and a couple of minutes later, Clare had their best goal chance of the match when Gilligan pulled on the ball to draw a good save from Cunningham before Taaffe drove wide.

The same Sparrow will have felt more feathery than usual to have avoided any official reprimand after a foul on John Browne in the 54th minute.

Given Clare's usual difficulties in putting beaten teams away, it was something of a surprise that they trained their sights on Cork in the last seven minute and knocked off six unanswered points. two of them went to Jamesie O'Connor who rounded off another hard-working afternoon in style.