To bring you tidings of moderate joy: however poor this game may turn out to be, it will not be – cannot be – as dismal as last Sunday's travesty in Thurles. However poor Clare may turn out to be, moreover, they will not be – cannot be – as dire as Limerick in the first half or Waterford in the second half. Or does this smack of tempting fate? Plenty of Clare people, fearing the worst after the spats and setbacks of a spring so discordant it might have been composed by Stravinsky, will be only too eager to answer in the affirmative.

On the time-honoured basis that one-off Sunday afternoons in summer have a knack of rendering the evidence of springtime inadmissible and the pensées of morning newspaper previewers look daft, this is not yet – just about – the juncture to consign Clare to perdition. Maybe Mike Mac knew what he was doing all along. Maybe his regime methods remain applicable to the modern game as opposed to being a relic of the 1990s. Maybe the conflict and unhappiness that were unwelcome visitors to the camp during the league amounted to nothing more than creative tensions whose benefits will ultimately be witnessed today.

Or maybe appearances weren't deceptive and Clare really are what they looked, an unhappy bunch low on guidance and wide open, once their initial flurry blows itself out this afternoon, for a heavy beating. Don't all rush out at once and stick your hardearned on the first of those two possibilities.

The one comfort blanket of theirs in recent years, the defensive rigour provided by the old guard, has long vanished. Question marks hang over Philip Brennan in goal, over James McInerney at full-back, over Tony Griffin as a midfielder, over David Barrett at full-forward. That's a lot of question marks.

Not open to doubt is the appetite for honest toil that Diarmuid McMahon will bring to his role on the 40'; McMahon never brings anything else or anything less. He'd find his duties less onerous were Tony Carmody to hurl like a centre-forward rather than like a wing-forward. Carmody has all the wherewithal and more besides. It'd be nice to see him put the head down and take the shortest route to goal today. But look, we've been hoping long enough for him to dominate rather than to decorate, a remark that applies in equal measure to Tony Griffin. It hasn't happened heretofore. Should it happen today, nobody will stand accused for not seeing it coming.

Other areas constitute material for observation, not for optimism. Jonathan Clancy wears the number 15 jersey but will be seen buzzing around out the field. Niall Gilligan has a habit of performing better against Cork than against Tipp. Colin Ryan possessed a lofty underage reputation but it would be grossly unfair to expect him to assume the mantle of leader.

After two games where they were obliged to scale the mountain to a certain height, Tipperary are entitled to feel heavy-legged. In the circumstances they'd be vulnerable against a good team. Besides, some day soon a set of really searching questions will be asked of them. The subjects will include Declan Fanning's aptitude for wing-back, James Woodlock's ability to hurl a consistent 70 minutes and the likelihood of Lar Corbett and John O'Brien breaking open a tight game. Tipp had better hope that such questions aren't all asked on the same day. But that day won't be today.

They've won 33 of their 48 championship meetings with Clare. It'll take an exceedingly bad day on their part and an exceedingly good one on the part of their opponents to prevent the record reading 34 from 49. Too much to ask for.

Verdict Tipperary by seven

Munster SHC Semi-Final: Clare v Tipperary, Gaelic Grounds, 4.00, Live, TV3, 3.30, Referee J Owens (Wexford)

Clare P Brennan; P Vaughan, J McInerney, G O'Grady; P Donnellan, B Bugler, A Markham; B O'Connell, T Griffin; T Carmody, D McMahon, C Ryan; N Gilligan, D Barrett, J Clancy

Tipperary B Cummins; P Stapleton, P Curran, C O'Brien; D Fanning, C O'Mahony, P Maher; J Woodlock, S McGrath; P Kerwick, S Callanan, L Corbett; E Kelly, J O'Brien, N McGrath