The All-Ireland champions’ greater efficiency was key but Clare will bemoan missed chances and a late free not given
Clare led for most of the first half, and in that period before half-time when Limerick were unusually faint and vulnerable Clare should have put some distance between themselves and the champions on the scoreboard.
Directly from the puck-out Clare stretched their lead to four points with Aidan McCarthy’s first score from play, but in the next two or three minutes they butchered chances to streak further ahead. Ryan Taylor missed a handy point from a slight angle, no more than 25 metres out, after Clare had worked an overlap down the right flank, and no more than a minute later Taylor cut through the heart of the Limerick defence. Faced with a variety of options he eschewed a handy point and found Rodgers unmarked to his right; the Clare corner forward bounced his shot in front of Nickie Quaid but the Limerick goalie got the pitch of the shot and Clare could do nothing with the rebound.
Limerick struggled to exert their influence in the ways you would normally expect. Clare pushed up hard on Limerick in their own half and squeezed their supply lines. Kyle Hayes, though, maintained an attacking threat down the left flank, and in their middle eight he was probably their most effective player in the first half.
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