Clare's three-in-a-row bid remains alive following a thrilling 5-19 to 1-25 victory over Tipperary after extra time at Ennis.

The reward for the winners is a Munster final date with Cork, who beat Waterford in tonight's other semi-final. The decider will take place here at Cusack Park in a fortnight.

At the end of an hour of incredibly entertaining action, the sides were deadlocked, Clare 3-13 Tipperary 1-19.

The reigning Munster and All-Ireland champions led by two points at the break as Tipp simply refused to roll over despite conceding two goals inside the opening quarter, 2-6 to 0-10.

The Banner County briefly took control of the match with two early goals within 90 seconds: first of all, Aaron Cunningham glided past his man and cut in from the left before clipping his shot into the top right corner to make it 1-2 to 0-2 after five minutes.

Almost immediately, Peter Duggan doubled onto a high delivery into the goalmouth and first-timed the sliothar past Paul Maher to leave six points between the teams.

Tipp had got off to an encouraging start with points from Colin O'Riordan and Liam McGrath (who would limp off just before half time) in the second and third minutes respectively but quickfire finishes from wing back Gearoid O'Connell and Bobby Duggan levelled the scores before Cunningham and Duggan registered their majors.

Captain Jason Forde converted a fine Premier County free but Bobby Duggan did likewise at the other end: 2-3 to 0-3 after twelve minutes. A brace of Forde frees left four points between the teams at the midway stage in the first half.

Midfielders Colm Galvin and Seamus Kennedy swapped points and Tipp points from Bill and Sean Maher left just two between them with seven minutes remaining in the first half, 2-4 to 0-8.

Bobby Duggan made no mistake from a '65' five minutes from the short whistle. Forde (free) and Jamie Shanahan pointed at either end and the former tagged on one more free before the short whistle sounded to leave just two between them at the interval.

Forde halved the gap within ten seconds of the restart and Tom Fox lofted over the equaliser in the 34th minute. Both of those Tipp points resulted from sloppy Clare defending.

Shanahan and O'Riordan traded points as the sides remained deadlocked. But Tipp surged back ahead courtesy of a 38th-minute goal from substitute Tadgh Gallagher after Bobby Duggan had clipped over a Clare free - 1-13 to 2-8.

Tipperary registered four of the next six points (including beauties from Ronan Maher and Forde) to move four clear but David Reidy's 47th-minute goal - after Peter Duggan's effort had been saved - brought them back into it and Duggan's point tied the scores up with twelve minutes left.

Forde took his point from a close-range free to restore Tipp's lead with nine minute remaining but All Star midfielder Galvin speared over a sensational equaliser on 54 minutes - 3-12 to 1-18.

Dan McCormack dramatically edged Tipp back in front from distance but Cunningham tied the scores up again on 58 minutes.

Tipperary centre back John Meagher picked up a harsh-looking straight red card in the 60th minute but Clare were unable to muster a winning point, which meant that the game went to extra time (and Tipp were back to 15 men).

There would be no let-up when the action resumed as six points were registered inside the first five minutes! Forde steadied the Premier County first with a brace but the Banner roared back with points from Cunningham, Reidy, Bobby Duggan and Galvin.

Super-fit Hurler of the Year Tony Kelly also had a goal effort blocked before Bobby Duggan's '65' left the scoreboard reading Clare 3-18 Tipperary 1-21 after seven minutes of extra time.

Duggan and Forde swapped frees and the first half of extra time ended with the hosts ahead by three.

Substitute Conor Hammersley closed the gap upon the restart and the Clare bench finally sprung senior star Shane O'Donnell from the bench for the last eight minutes of extra time - his first appearance in three months!

Stephen Cahill reduced Tipp's arrears to the minimum but Cunningham pounced for his second goal in the 13th minute of extra time when he reacted first to a Kelly missile that came back off an upright and slotted the rebounder to the net, 4-19 (31) to 1-14 (27).

Forde went for goal from a Tipp free but Clare goalkeeper Keith Hogan blocked his shot. Hogan again denied Forde from open play two minutes from the end and McCormack pulled back a last-gasp point before McDonnell raised the biggest cheer of the night when he was in the right place at the right time - in injury time at the end of extra time - to bat the ball to the net after Kelly's shot had been saved.

Clare - K Hogan; J Colleran, J Browne, S Morey; G O'Connell (0-2), A O'Neill, C Cleary; T Kelly, C Galvin (0-3); P Duggan (1-1), S McGrath, J Shanahan (0-2); B Duggan (0-8, 4f, 2'65), A Cunningham (2-2), D Reidy (1-1). Subs: E Enright for S McGrath, S Gleeson for A O'Neill, S O'Brien for G O'Connell, S O'Donnell (1-0) for P Duggan, P Fitzgerald for B Duggan.

Tipperary - P Maher; C Barrett, M Breen, T Fox (0-1); R Maher (0-1), J Meagher, T Hamill; S Kennedy (0-1), B Maher (0-1); C O'Riordan (0-3), L McGrath (0-1), D McCormack (0-2); S Cahill (0-1), J Forde (0-12, 7f, 1sl), S Maher (0-1). Subs: T Gallagher (1-0) for S Maher, D Fitzelle for L McGrath, C Hammersley (0-1) for S Kennedy, B Heffernan, S O'Brien for T Gallagher, S Kennedy for M Breen.

Referee - C McAllister. Tweet

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