After the draw the main feeling was that Clare were simply the better team and that Cork had been unbelievably lucky. They needed goals, which they hadn’t been getting all year, and yet they nearly won. Clare were lucky to get the extra 30 seconds for the equaliser but Cork needed to be lucky for longer than that.

Immediately after the game I switched totally to Clare for the replay. On the evidence we’d seen in the drawn match, they were a better team and it was illogical to believe that Cork could win.

At this stage though, I’ve come around again to the view that it’s anyone’s. Clare were absolutely magnificent and – even if they got caught for goals from out of nowhere – playing in orthodox formation they were on top in every line of the field.

Maybe they could have saved one of the three goals – the goalkeeper could have done better for Lehane’s – but then again maybe Cork could have scored another from either the other 20-metre free or the penalty.

They were unlucky to be playing 15 instead of 14 and but for a couple of wides from Colin Ryan and Conor McGrath and the missed goal chance for Podge Collins, Clare would have buried Cork altogether. Can they repeat such an outstanding performance?

Davy Fitzgerald took a bit of stick for not reverting to a sweeper system when Clare went ahead but I disagree with that. They were winning in all but two positions, why would you change the formation? My belief in relation to tactics is simple: when enough of your players (usually nine, with a bit of luck) are beating their men, you should win.

Clare just weren’t able to bang in the last few nails, a lot like my first year with Tipp in 1999 when we had a draw with Ger Loughnane’s Clare. We had a lot of young players, who hit the high spots and should have won. One of our debutants was quoted afterwards as saying that it had been ‘enjoyable’; in other words championship hurling was easier than anticipated.

In Clare, meanwhile, some of the greatest players ever had a week of self examination and being castigated by supporters and management. They came out and hammered us in the replay.

In the past couple of weeks Clare have had a procession of an All-Ireland under-21 win and I’m not sure the effect of this will have been as positive as many appear to think.

It didn’t have the healthiest impact on Tipperary back in 2010 and although the Clare lads are sensible and used to combining senior and under-21 matches, I think Davy will have his work cut out to get them back to earth after all the ovations.

Clare have had to cope with the knowledge that they played superbly in the drawn match, have had an All-Ireland celebration in between and maybe the nagging feeling: what have we to do to win this thing?

It wasn’t the first time this season that Clare hadn’t managed to close the deal. Wexford should have been destroyed but instead took them to extra time.

I wouldn’t have made any changes for the replay if I were Davy Fitzgerald but it would have been on my mind that we need a greater goal threat. Shane O’Donnell is someone many might have forgotten, but I remember him, particularly against Kilkenny, whose players were also impressed by him, in the league in Ennis. He takes on defences in a straight line.

I think that Darach Honan is still a very good player but watching the under-21 final brought O’Donnell to mind and it might be an idea to give him a run at some stage.

Despite the three goals they let in, I don’t think Clare should consider reverting to a sweeper because it’s more important to score goals themselves and it’s worth bearing in mind that no team employing a seventh defender has won an All-Ireland.

I think it will a tighter game, which I know sounds ridiculous given the way the draw finished but I mean that the teams will be better matched.

Cork's touch was remarkably poor the last day and there is a suggestion that in the run-up to the game that they became too obsessive about formations – unlike Johnny Clifford in 1986 who didn't bother trying to counter Galway's third midfielder.

I think that any problems with touch – at one stage in the second half Daniel Kearney dropped the ball and almost immediately someone had hit it over the bar – can be easily fixed – it was excellent against Dublin. A lot of Cork players underperformed; just Anthony Nash in goal and Shane O'Neill played up to the level they had previously.

They are very lucky to have this second chance but there’s no better way to motivate any team than by having their shortcomings publicly aired for a couple of weeks. As with Kilkenny in last year’s replay I think there’ll be much greater concentration on how they play themselves.

Cian McCarthy will be more physical in the half forwards but he'll still have a lot to prove against Conor Ryan.

In a glorious hurling year, there’s been no outstanding team. Clare have the potential to be that in the years ahead but there hasn’t been much in all of their games with Cork this year – this will be their sixth – and they’ve drawn two of the last three.

I’m going to stick with Cork to win even though they have their vulnerabilities. Freed from obsessing about Clare tactics, they have scope for significant individual and collective improvement. I think the set-up this time will suit them better and although you can argue that they’ll be lucky to beat a talented Clare side, that’s one quality that didn’t desert them the last day.