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9th July 2023
07:45pm BST
It's 45 minutes later, the sun has come out , two goals have been scored, the game has boiled up, boiled down and we are all deep in a melting pot.
Somewhere through the bubbles you will see it, and it tells the story of the day that Clare hands are over eyes because, it's finishing as it started, it's deja vu, 2022 back to you, Tony Kelly is chasing Mikey Butler again.
This time the corner back isn't going for point, maybe it's the madness of youth, he's going for goal.
The ball skids away before he can pull the trigger but it skids into Eoin Cody's path. Talk about the right man. Talk about the wrong man.
He is punching the air within seconds because he has scored for the sixth time today. There is 1-5 to his name and while Colm Lyons' final whistle hasn't yet sounded, there is a general consensus, all around the ground, before televisions in pubs and houses, Clare have been beaten.
Peter Duggan almost saves the day - the Clooney Quin player was phenomenal, and his last-gasp snapshot would have drawn the whole thing up. But Eoin Murphy is equal to it, with one of the best saves you’ll ever see.
And the final whistle is blown.
Mikey Butler doesn't have to go out of his way to shake Tony Kelly's hand, he's been beside him all day, but the respect between the pair is clear. This was an honourable battle.
In fact, going back to the first break, all the way up to that last break, it doesn't appear that a bad word has been said, a bad stroke hasn't been pulled between them.
Kelly had his moments too. He never went missing and he contributed to some of Clare’s best moves, but he just couldn’t get free, couldn’t get going like he usually does.
That was because of the young man with four on his back,
When you think of man-markers, you're inclined to think of pulled jerseys, exchanged words, and darkened arts. But Butler is clean as a whistle. He hasn't been standing on Tony Kelly's heels. Hasn't been tugging his jersey and, even after winning the small battles, hasn't been shouting in his ear.
There's honour in that.
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