It was so furious and crowded around the middle sector at Semple Stadium on Sunday that there wasn’t much time to think, let alone find time to dwell on the ball.

But after Colin Ryan landed a superb point at the end of injury time to give Clare a slender advantage, it crossed his mind that the score could be enough to secure a first league title win since 1978.

But seconds later, he was watching as Maurice Shanahan fixed the Clare posts in his sightlines and steadied himself to deliver the long distance free that ended the day on deadlock.

“Probably I think when the puck out came down and we had it won,” Ryan says when asked if he felt it was going to be Clare’s day after his point.

“But fair play to Maurice: he nailed it. It brings us back for another day. And I suppose we don’t have to look forward to another pre-season. We are getting games, games, games. Which is great.”

The Newmarket man was sent on after 54 minutes. “Pretty manic,” is his description of what it felt like to be parachuted into a helter-skelter match.

Middle third

“The middle third, as I think Davy and Derek said during the week, was going to be a battle ground. And I think it was: it was pretty low scoring there for a long period. But it opened up a bit more as the game went on and there were a lot of scores taken from out the field.

Derek McGrath's blueprint for Waterford has produced plenty of head-scratching throughout the hurling world.

Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald was enthusiastic about pitting his side against the compressed, defensively superb alignment which McGrath has composed and he was still animated after Sunday's pulsating draw.

The Waterford style is a world apart from the freestyle, goal-laden days in which Dan Shanahan, McGrath’s selector, starred.

It can lead to choppy and stilted passages of play – and the first half on Sunday was slow burning. But it also makes for tight, absorbing encounters.

“They are different to Kilkenny, I suppose or Tipperary. It is a thinking man’s game at the minute. You have to put effort into realising that there are smart people out there and they are trying to put an effort into getting one over on everybody.

“So you have to do a bit of homework on it and it is a great learning curve for us for June 5th. And I am sure it is going to adapt over and over again . . .”

The competition for starting places on the Clare team is tighter than ever. Fitzgerald ran his bench liberally on Sunday in attempt to find a combination that would work against Waterford. Ryan and Cathal O’Connell made a big impact upon their introduction.

Ryan is one of those 2013 All-Ireland winning players battling to claim a regular spot.

“Would I say we have a stronger panel now than in 2013? I probably would. Lads are stepping up to the mark. You can see the lads who are missing and it is just seamless.

“Lads are giving everything in training and we are working hard and looking forward to the summer.”

But first up they have the league sequel against Waterford. Sunday’s game was absolutely thrilling by endgame, even if the first half provoked a lot of negative comment.

Ryan understands that some spectators are left cold by tactically heavy games but says players can’t afford to dwell on that.

The neutrals

“I’d say the neutrals thought it was horrible, the first half. But that is just the way the game has gone. Lads are getting fitter and fitter and at the end of the day, we all give seven days a week every week for numerous months of the year. And all you want to do is win. . . I’m sure the Waterford fans would love it if they won an All-Ireland no matter what way they are playing.”