Or refrain from seizing on Niall Gilligan's wayward 58thminute free and identifying it, if not quite as the game's turning point, then unquestionably as the moment the pendulum swung back Kilkenny's way? Forget it. By their very nature, autopsies throb with truisms.

Another truism being this.

Like Waterford seven days earlier and Tipperary a fortnight before that, Clare were neither good enough on the day nor likely to be good enough on any other day these protagonists met. The losers were beaten by a better team. It is the most timeless and transparent sporting narrative of them all.

To try and extract a silver lining from a Banner perspective constitutes a serious case of whistling past the graveyard. Because we'll never know what would have ensued had Tony Griffin stitched his two opportunities or James McGarry not foiled Gilligan, there's scarcely much point in dwelling on them in the first place. Ditto the non-appearance of Barry Nugent; although the man who fell to earth after his flying start against Cork in the Munster semi-final may indeed have brought some zoom to the attack had he been introduced in the second half, Nugent has neither the cuteness nor the stickwork that turns tides. By all means assert that Clare were hard done by in terms of the final score if it makes you feel good.

But do not forget that they lost by eight points to a team that drove 18 wides.

Depressing? Not half as depressing as the picture that emerges if the manner in which they finished the championship is compared to how their nearest rivals finished the championship. Limerick did so on a small high, with self-respect restored and purpose renewed. Waterford did so aware they're the thirdbest team in the country. Tipperary have two All Ireland final-reaching underage teams to warm them this winter. Galway were a disaster but they're better than that.

Of the counties jostling on the ledge below Cork and Kilkenny, Clare look the team most likely to regress in the next year or two.

Yet the many who've claimed that Anthony Daly would have been better off staying away from the job for another five years miss, whether consciously or unconsciously, the reality of the choice put before him. In truth it was no choice. His county called; how much of a patriot would Daly have been had he said thanks but no thanks, added that failure would tarnish his standing and promised that he'd be happy to take over the hot seat at a juncture when it would be more popular and profitable? Daly bore witness.

Give him that.

He can take, and has, the rap for walking into it with his eyes open against Waterford in 2004. Again and again Cyril Lyons produced a team that performed in the first round of the Munster championship; again and again Daly didn't. Still, scrolling back through the big matches Clare played during his term of office, last year's provincial semi-final against Tipperary was the only one they were entitled to win and didn't; against Cork twelve months ago they simply lostto a better team. One accusation Daly won't level at himself is that of failing to explore every avenue he could think of. There's certainly no percentage in him returning to bang his head off a wall for another 12 months.

It won't have been a surprise if a number of his players also engaged in some mirror-gazing during the week. What happened to Griffin in the second half?

How often does Tony Carmody put his head down and drive forward like the leader of an attack should? Davy Fitz is long enough on the road to realise that there's a difference between being keyed up and being overstrung. Don't get high on your own supply of adrenaline, as Tony Montana almost declared.

Two of the losers' six points in the second half came from Seanie McMahon frees, another (Diarmuid McMahon) from Seanie's catch and sally forward, another (Griffin) came from a Kilkenny fumble and two (Gilligan and Carmody) from breaks off Kilkenny defenders. 'Underwhelming' is perhaps the politest way of putting it.

Some people appear to believe it was the oul' lads who were the weakness for Clare last Sunday. They're wrong.