Anthony Daly looks torn between the relief of winning an important match and non-plussed by how easy it was in the end. From the time Tony Griffin fired in the first goal on 13 minutes, Clare were on a convincing roll towards victory.

The momentum of that roll caught even the winners by surprise and dismayed neutrals in the crowd and watching on television.

Among Limerick's many changes pre-throw-in was the naming of debutant Kieran Breen at full back to replace full back TJ Ryan who, as expected, failed a fitness test.

In that, Clare saw an opportunity.

"Limerick dropped their heads a bit and that was untypical," said Daly, "but we worked much harder and that was what I was looking for. With TJ missing we felt that they might be vulnerable at the back and with Alan Markham in good form we felt if we got good ball into him we could do well and he created the damage done in there."

By the end, Cusack Park was a pattern of whizzing points being rifled over by Clare's extended panel of players. "We knew we were a decent panel after the league, but we weren't delivering," said Daly. "There's competition up front and that's good, but we're still a mile off the Corks and Kilkennys. Still, we can top the group and go up to a quarter-final."

His Limerick counterpart Joe McKenna hadn't by the end of the match announced his resignation, but there was a resigned air to his views. "We tried changing it around from the Tipperary game, but again too many players didn't hurl. You'd have to be disappointed - if you weren't there'd be no point in being there."

Limerick's changes saw only three players start where the programme indicated they would. Clare's amendments weren't as radical and Daly explained that this had been deliberate. "We've been building a team for two and a half years and we wanted to make a minimum of changes. Tony Griffin played in the left corner last year and Jonathan Clancy was itching for a start."

The main relief came in setting behind them the disappointment of the Munster defeat by Cork and the improvement in form that meant the season had been redefined.

"We didn't think we were as bad as we looked against Cork and we know we're not anything as good as we looked there today," said Daly.

Would he have preferred a more testing match? "I don't know, but I'd have taken this beforehand."