For a league final this was a strange game of hurling, and for a while it felt like neither team knew how to win. Waterford were the marginally better team throughout, only to spend much of the game shooting themselves in the foot instead of shooting the ball over the bar.

But I fancied Waterford to win this beforehand, and still feel that for the replay they're slightly stronger than Clare right now, with enough to improve on to get them over the line the next day.

They certainly hit a shocking number of wides in the first half, which very nearly cost them the game, only for Maurice Shanahan to save them in the end with his excellently taken free.

That was a high-pressure situation, given all they’d missed before that, so Shanahan certainly deserves credit for nailing it.

The problem is that so many Waterford players were guilty of poor shooting or poor shot selection, from Austin Gleeson to Patrick Curran to Shane Bennett. In fairness Bennett found his range in the second half, but overall Waterford's conversion rate was very poor.

Exciting endgame

It was only in extra time that both teams really decided to go for it, and that at least made for an exciting endgame.

As expected both teams played very defensively, packing a lot of men at the back, and that made for precious few goal chances at either end. Tom Devine had one clear-cut chance for Waterford, but other than that it was hard to see either team ever scoring a goal.

For Waterford, with a first-half tally of 12 wides, it was probably just one of those days. I certainly don't think they'll be as bad the next time out, especially if Shanahan is fit to start, or likewise Pauric Mahony.

There can be no argument that the draw was the fair result, the only issue being that it will leave the teams playing each other again just four weeks before the championship. That’s certainly not ideal, but I’d expect both teams to be as keen to win again next Sunday.

As for room for improvement: you’d have to say Waterford has the edge. Again, it’s hard to see them missing as many chances the next day, and they were creating plenty of chances. But any team that is serious about winning needs a consistent free-taker, so that’s something they’ll have to fix, whether it’s with Shanahan or Mahony. You can’t have two or three players missing frees like they did here.

That’s the reality of hurling now, the way the game is being played, so people will have to get used to it. All the teams are becoming more defensive. At times Waterford had only one or two men up front, and there was very little ball going into them; that’s something they’ll probably want to adapt a little, if they really are to kick on from here.

Defensive play

But again that’s the style of hurling now, at county and college level, where both teams play very much between the two 45m lines, with an extra defender back, which makes for a congested area around that middle third of the field. No one is hitting the ball along the ground any more either.

I’m not sure it makes for the most exciting game, or that it would appeal to the purists, but again that’s just the reality of it. You’re seeing more and more almost rucks around the middle of the field, and winning those rucks is very important, trying to traffic the ball out of that area.

Clare are clearly back to their 2013 form, in terms of energy anyway. They're certainly much improved on last year, with the likes of Tony Kelly, Colm Galvin, and especially Conor McGrath, back to their best form.

They're tighter in defence as well thanks to Cian Dillon and Pat O'Connor, and still have some big players to come back too, such as John Conlon and David McInerney. Podge Collins contributed a lot as well even if he didn't score much, and Davy Fitzgerald will be happy with the quality of players he has now.

Even with the replay coming close to the championship I don’t think we’ll see a watered down contest next Sunday. I think both teams went out to win this one, even if they struggled to find a way. There wasn’t a puck of a ball between them here and that’s likely to be the case again: no team is going to run away from the other, that’s for sure.

Energy and drive

It’s actually a really good game to have so close to the championship. They are two young, energetic teams and it shouldn’t have any great impact on their ability to maintain that through to the latter stages of the summer and into September.

Because they’re both All-Ireland contenders, no doubt about that. They were in this league final on merit, and both teams have the pedigree now to consider themselves contenders, both very much the form teams at the moment.

What is certain is that there was very little between the teams here, and there won’t be next Sunday – which should at least make for another intriguing contest. But I still fancy Waterford to come through.