Tipperary forward John 'Bubbles' O'Dwyer says he and his team mates had anticipated the "fierce" battle they got against Clare in yesterday's All-Ireland SHC quarter-final at the new Pairc Ui Chaoimh.
The All-Ireland champions scored a 0-28 to 3-16 win over the Banner men in the end but they were certainly made earn it and O'Dwyer, who contributed 0-5 to Tipp's victory, said he was delighted to come through for a return to the semi-finals.
"We came down here expecting nothing less from Clare, it was going to be a fierce hard battle," he told Newstalk afterwards.
"We just came out with the win, I don't know what it was, one or two points, I don't know what it was but we're just happy to be in an All-Ireland semi-final again.
"No matter how many games you play or how many wins you get - you're always going to have things to work on. And, that's something we're going to have to try to work on, to stem the flow of a team when they get their purple patch. And, you know, I think a lot of our players stood up today.
"I think Ronan and Paudi and Brendan back there and all the backs...some serious catches there and some serious interventions so we'll get a lot of confidence from that. We're back in August and we're back where we want to be."
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