Meanwhile colleges' hurling has thrown up a lip-smacking attracting this coming Sunday when Thurles and Nenagh play a Harty semi-final at Templemore.

Three thousand was the reported attendance at Borrisoleigh last week. It was an extraordinary turn out on an icy Tuesday night in January. (By comparison only six and a half thousand paid into our '08 county final between Sarsfields and Toomevara). It just shows how the winter hibernation leaves us all longing for some real action once again. Perhaps it indicates too the buzz of expectation that surrounds Tipperary hurling as we face into the new decade following that narrow miss last September.

The fans won't have been overly encouraged by their visit to Borrisoleigh, though they'll be sensible not to read much into such season-openers. Clare's subsequent heavy fall to Waterford underlined the unpredictability of these games and even Kilkenny tasted defeat to Offaly in the Walsh Cup. The Tipperary players were involved in a boot camp in Cork a few days earlier.

Still I'm sure Liam Sheedy and company would have liked a win and a game with Waterford to further test some fringe players as we prepare for that league opener with the 'cats'. Instead the team played an internal challenge last Sunday and it looks now as if their only other game before the league will be an under-lights challenge with Dublin at St. Brigid's, Castlenock, on February 13. A proposed fixture with Offaly in aid of Haiti was scuppered by the latter's win over Kilkenny.

Anyway back to Borrisoleigh and quite a lively game for the time of year. Clare looked really sharp; they were 'up' for the contest, to quote the popular jargon of the moment. They chased everything in numbers, giving the Tipp lads little room, and then took their chances with great economy.

By contrast the Tipp machine looked blunt, especially at the attacking end where there was little cutting edge. We spent most of the game chasing a deficit. Four down at half time, we got back to two on Noel McGrath's goal, which gave the locals their only real cheer of the night. But the Banner refused to flag and in the final minutes closed out the contest with Jonathan Clancy knifing through for a rousing point.

Defensively we looked secure where Declan Fanning was typically unyielding at number three. Shane Maher too at wing caught attention with a strong display. Benny Dunne did a deal of hurling at midfield and in attack John O'Brien and Eoin Kelly were probably the best triers. Of the newer players I thought Gearoid Ryan did some useful things at midfield but Thomas Stapleton at centre back met a really tough challenge in John Conlon, Clare's best on the night.

The game probably underlined what we already know: the attack is our biggest challenge. Even the introduction of Noel McGrath, Lar Corbett, Shane McGrath and Micheal Webster failed to rescue this one.