A 0-13 haul by the impressive Peter Duggan helped Clare reach this year's final at the expense of an out of sorts Limerick side at Cusack Park this afternoon.

All the hype surrounding Limerick going into this game seems to have got to the players as this was without doubt their worst display of the campaign.

Limerick manager John Kiely has a lot to ponder ahead of the All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarterfinal, but it's Clare who march on to the Munster final.

Both sides finished the match with 14 men as Tom Condon and David Reidy were handed red cards for separate off the ball incidents.

Condon was caught on camera digging the hurl into an area on Reidy that no one likes to get hit, and the Limerick defender can have to qualms about his dismissal, but Reidy just looked to have nudged Diarmuid Byrnes who made the most of the tackle and Clare forward was soon down the tunnel also.

The home side were the better throughout and lead 0-13 to 0-09 at the break, mainly thanks to Duggan's accuracy from frees. However, they took complete control in the second half and led by Tony Kelly who hit four points during that second period, the punished every Limerick mistake as the Shannonsiders were left to rue a number of missed scoring opportunities.

The first half was a scrappy affair and we saw little of the free flowing hurling that has lit up the Munster SHC so far this year.

Part of that scrapiness was down to referee James Owens being over zealous with some of the frees that he awarded to both sides. While he got the Condon red card spot on, David Reidy's dismissal was nothing short of farcical.

The first attack of the day saw Dowling with a great opportunity to open the scoring from a relatively easy free, but the Na Piarsaigh man drove the ball high and wide.

Duggan scored the first of his seven first half fress in the fourth minute as the Clare forward picked up where he left off in the last game.

John Conlon caused massive problems for the Limerick defence throughout and he made in 0-02 to 0-00 in the fifth minute when he shrug off a couple of challenges before drilling the ball over the bar.

Limerick were soon off the mark though as Tom Morrissey scored an inspiring point from the win a minute later. The fluency of the game was continuously interrupted as to be fair, both sides looked slightly nervous.

One man that didn't seem to be suffering from nerves though was Duggan who tapped over two frees either side of Dowling's first of the afternoon.

Dowling soon added another to make it 0-04 to 0-03 by the 16th minutes, but Clare had the better of the possession and a fine score by Colm Galvin doubled their lead a minute later.

Once again, it was a Dowling free that left the minimum between the teams, before sub David Fitzgerald who had replaced the injured Seadna Morey, struck over two fine points in a row to make it 0-07 to 0-04 by the 23rd minute.

A Kyle Hayes point stopped that run of Clare scores, but Conlon's response was immediate as he continued to torment Mike Casey and Co in that Limerick full back line.

Duggan and Dowling then exchange points from placed balls before Darragh O'Donovan cut over a line ball from all over 50 metres to make the score 0-09 to 0-07 after 28 minutes.

The the game descended into a few minutes of chaos as Owens had to consult with his umpires for the off the ball incidents in the Limerick square and the result was Condon and Reidy walked.

Two Duggan frees opened up a five point gap for Clare as we entered five minutes of injury time, but Cian Lynch and Diarmuid Byrnes responded for the Shannonsiders. However the last score of the half came from a Duggan '65.

Clare came out chomping at the bit in the second half and two early Kelly points were matched by Tom Morrissey and Seamus Flanagan scores.

Duggan (free) and Conlon pointed before Gearoid Hegarty hit a fine effort for Limerick and then Dan Morrissey came forward to get an equally impressive score.

Three Duggan scores sandwiched points from sub Aaron Gillane and Tom Morrissey, but from here on in, it was all Clare who hit seven unanswered points through Duggan (three) Kelly (three) and Conlon made sure of the win.

Clare - Donal Tuohy; Jack Browne, Patrick O'Connor, David McInerney; Seadna Morey, Conor Cleary, Jamie Shanahan (0-1); Colm Galvin (0-1), Cathal Malone; Peter Duggan (0-13, 10f, 1'65), Tony Kelly (0-5, 1'65), David Reidy; Podge Collins, John Conlon (0-4), Shane O'Donnell. Subs: David Fitzgerald (0-2) for Morey (14mins, inj), Jason McCarthy for Malone (54), Ian Galvin for Fitzgerald (61), Conor McGrath for O'Donnell (65), Mikey O'Neill for Collins (70)

Limerick - Nickie Quaid; Sean Finn, Mike Casey, Richie English; Diarmaid Byrnes (0-1), Declan Hannon, Dan Morrissey (0-1); Darragh O'Donovan (0-1, 1 s/l), Cian Lynch (0-1); Gearoid Hegarty (0-1), Kyle Hayes (0-1), Tom Morrissey (0-3); Seamus Flanagan (0-1), Shane Dowling (0-4, 4f), Graeme Mulcahy. Subs: Tom Condon for Finn (13mins, inj), Richie McCarthy for Mulcahy (HT), Aaron Gillane (0-1) for Flanagan (49), David Dempsey for Hegarty (56), Barry Nash for English (64)

Ref: James Owens (Wexford)

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