The Munster championship has arrived.
Tipperary and Limerick opened the most hotly contested and eagerly anticipated provincial championships of all with a slow burner in the Gaelic Grounds. Cork and Clare set it firmly in motion with a ding dong, end to end belter down in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
The championship chaos started before the game even began Leeside. With the sun shining high in the sky prior to the 4.00 throw-in, Clare fans fretted as their half back and key man David Fitzgerald departed the field and headed for the dressing room holding his head after a clash during the warm-up.
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It looked as if the UL Fitzgibbon star was set to be replaced by substitute Michael O'Malley, who took his place in th pre-match parade, but in the nick of time, Fitzgerald bursted out of the dressing room to join his teammates for the closing stages of the pre-match formality.
This meant that at one stage, there were 16 men lined up for the Banner boys in their pre-match parade. With a smile on his face, O'Malley retreated to the bench.
The game itself was just as exciting as Clare raced into an early lead with points from John Conlon, Colm Galvin and Peter Duggan setting them on their way. John Meyler's Cork side were quick to settle themselves into this one, however, and they responded through two Patrick Horgan frees and a long range special from last year's find of the championship Mark Coleman.
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While the day's opener had League-like intensity to it, this was real tit-for-tat, fast paced and high octane Championship hurling. In front of their home crowd, Cork were taking the majority of chances that came their way, with the typically deadly Patrick Horgan punishing any Clare indiscipline with his sniping accuracy from placed balls.
The Banner County will regret their five wides in the first 25 minutes of the game, but the pressure being put on them by the hungry Cork backs had a huge part to play in this.
None-the-less, Shane O'Donnell was still making his presence felt up top as he buzzed all over their forward line and set up a host of scores for teammates.
Peter Duggan was matching Horgan's free-taking accuracy but the energetic Seamus Harnedy and Darragh Fitzgibbon tacked on two more to see them into a half-time lead.
