defeated Cork in the Munster semi-final and qualified for a final appearance against Limerick. Clare had lost the last two Munster finals, however, on this occasion Loughnane's side hurled Limerick off their feet and captured a 1–17 to 0–11 victory. It was the county's first provincial title since 1932. Clare celebrated and even took the provincial trophy on a tour of the county, however, they were given little chance against Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final. In the end the 3–12 to 1–13 victory was an easy one and Clare qualified to play reigning champions Offaly in the 1995 All-Ireland final. At half-time, in spite of conceding a goal, an animated Loughnane did a brief interview in which he confidently predicted "We're going to do it," before rushing off. His prediction came through and Clare were the All-Ireland champions for the first time in 81 years. Clare surrendered their Munster and All-Ireland titles in their opening game in 1996. In an exciting game against Limerick Ciarán Carey provided one of the greatest match winners of all-time when he soloed the sliothar for 70 yards before scoring the winning point. After an early defeat in 1996, Clare were out for victory in 1997. Once again they defeated Cork in a Munster semi-final before taking the scalp of Tipperary in the Munster final. The score line of 1–18 to 0-18 made them firm favourites to capture a second All-Ireland title. The subsequent All-Ireland semi-final saw Loughnane's side take on Kilkenny. Clare were on top for the entire game and ended up winning on a score line of 1–17 to 1–13. In the first year of the so-called 'back-door system' Tipperary had qualified for an historic All-Ireland final against Clare. It was the first all-Munster All-Ireland final. In what has been described as one of the games of the decade Clare came from behind at half-time to defeat Tipp for the second time that year with a score of 0–20 to 2–13. It was Loughnane's second All-Ireland title as manager. Furthermore, Clare had defeated the big three of Cork, Kilkenny and Tipperary on the way to the All-Ireland title. Only Waterford in 1959 had achieved that feat before. The 1998 championship was to prove controversial for Loughnane and his Clare team. The replayed Munster final against Waterford was played in an extremely poor spirit with Colin Lynch of Clare and Michael White of Waterford