By Rory Houston
Follow us on twitter at @RTESundayGame. Add to the debate by using the hashtag #sundaygame on Twitter or e-mail sportonline@rte.ie
Result: Clare 1-19 Tipperary 4-19
1735 Thanks for reading today. Don't forget The Sunday Game tonight at 9:30pm for highlights of this weekend's match. See you next weekend.
1734 The draw for the hurling qualifiers is at 6:15pm. We'll have news of that when it happens on our GAA site.
1731 The referee blows for full-time to bring an end to a very entertaining game. Both teams can take positives from this game but there is a lot to work on. Clare put in a great effort but couldn't cope with Tipp for 70 minutes.
Full-time: Clare 1-19 Tipperary 4-19
1730 Shane McGrath adds another score soon after with Tipp coasting to the win here. Clare 1-19 Tipperary 4-19
1729 With Clare committing men down the field, Lar Corbett has so much space and just the goalkeeper to beat. Corbett's shot rebounds off the post and falls to Callinan who puts the ball in the corner of the net.
GOAL - TIPPERARY - SEAMUS CALLINAN
1728 McInerney puts too much on the shot and the ball goes over the bar. Clare 1-19 Tipperary 3-18
1727 Clare have a free on the 20-metre line after Padraic Maher handled on the line. We're in the final minute so they have to go for it here.
1725 Cathal McInerney twists and turns before lobbing it over for a Clare point. With three minutes left on the clock, they need a goal. Clare 1-18 Tipperary 3-18
1723 Padraic Maher completes another superb score by winning it from the Clare puckout and launching a huge shot over the bar. Clare 1-17 Tipperary 3-18
1722 Pa Bourke takes control for Tipperary, shrugging off the challenge of a Clare man with ease and taking his time to find the point. Clare 1-17 Tipperary 3-17
1720 Seamus Callinan makes it look so easy as he wins it from the puck out and seals a fifth point of the day. Clancy responds immediately for Clare. There are nine minutes remaining. Clare 1-17 Tipperary 3-16
1719 The Clare fightback is on as Jonathan Clancy manages to get another score for the Banner. Clare 1-16 Tipperary 3-15
1717 Conor McGrath outpaces Paddy Stapleton and adds another point to his fine showing today. Clare 1-15 Tipperary 3-15
1715 Routine free for Conor McGRath to take his tally for the day to 1-05. Clare 1-14 Tipperary 3-15
1713 Noel McGrath was one of five players in a battle to win the ball close to the sideline. McGrath shows all his class to come away with it and send a floating shot between the posts. Clare 1-13 Tipperary 3-15
1712 Pa Bourke and John Conlone exchange scores with Tipp really finding their range in the final third now. Clare 1-13 Tipperary 3-14
1711 Seamus Callinan's first effort is blocked marvellously by O'Connor but he gets a second chance and make a 50-metre shot so easy. Clare 1-12 Tipperary 3-13
1710 Noel McGrath is picked out 30 metres from goal and has plenty of time to place the ball between the posts. Clare's challenge is fading it seems. Clare 1-12 Tipperary 3-12
1709 Both teams record wide in the 51st minute. Eleven minutes have passed since Clare's last score.
1707 Callinan does well to win the ball back 45 metres from the Clare goal and turn very sharply before completing the score. Clare 1-12 Tipperary 3-11
1704 Gearoid Ryan picks it up from Maher in the middle of the field and does well to power the ball over. Clare 1-12 Tipperary 3-10
1703 It's an easy free for Eoin Kelly in front of the posts to extend Tipp's lead to three points. Clare 1-12 Tipperary 3-09
1702 Another goal chance for Tipp as Lar Corbett has acres of space to run into towards goal. Donnellan manages to get a hook in just as Corbett was about to have a pop at goal.
1701 Eoin Kelly's penalty comes off the crossbar and deflects away. Conlon clears the ball down the field, much to the delight of the Clare supporters.
1700 Noel McGrath gets ahead of Conor McInerney and is set to go for goal but McInerney slaps McGrath with the hurley. McGrath manages to shoot with his foot and the ball hits the net. However, the referee had blown up for the penalty. Eoin Kelly will take it.
PENALTY TO TIPPERARY
1658 Lovely score by John Conlon as he shakes off the Tipp challenge and fires the ball over from 70 metres. Clare 1-12 Tipperary 3-08
1656 Shane McGrath levels things up for this period as he gets away from his man and opts to take the point with the goal becoming more of a possibility as ran down the left.
1655 Conor McGrath's free from 25 metres out on the left of the field proves the first score of the second half. Clare will need to keep the scores coming with Tipp looking so dangerous in front of goal. Clare 1-11 Tipperary 3-07
1652 The players are coming out on the pitch with Stephen Lillis and Paddy Stapleton on for O'Keeffe and Young for Tipp.
1637 The referee blows for half-time. It's an excellent game with Clare putting in a fine performance. Tipp showed their class on several occasions without finding a consistency that would see them win this game comfortably.
Half-time: Clare 1-10 Tipperary 3-07
1635 Noel McGrath notches Tipperary's fourth wide of the day. Clare are working so hard as we approach the break, closing every Tipp player when the ball even goes near them.
1632 That could prove a huge moment in this game as Cathal McInerney's shot for goal is excellently blocked by Cummins. Tipp work the ball down the field and Noel McGrath is the man who gets the score. Clare 1-10 Tipperary 3-07
1629 That's a second score of the day for Diarmuid McMahon after some slick play by McInerney but it's soon cancelled out by an all too easy point by Seamus Callinan. Clare 1-10 Tipperary 3-06
1628 Fantastic score by Maher as O'Brien lays it off about 75 metres from the posts. It's not a problem for Maher as the ball sails down the field and over. Clare 1-09 Tipperary 3-05
1624 Beautiful piece of play by Eoin Kelly as he rises high to win the ball and turns well before powering the ball between the posts. Clare 1-09 Tipperary 3-04
1622 Conor McGrath hits successive frees to steady the Clare ship. Young is booked for the foul for the second free. Clare 1-09 Tipperary 3-03
1621 Tipperary smell blood here as they once again expose Clare in defence. It's by no mean a simple finish as he turns away from two Clare defenders but Brennan can't get anything on the powerful shot as the ball sails into the top of the net. Clare 1-07 Tipperary 3-03
GOAL - TIPPERARY - LAR CORBETT
1619 Another goal for Tipp as they allow Patrick Maher acres of space to run in on goal and fire the ball between the legs of the goalkeeper. Clare's positiive start is fading. Clare 1-07 Tipperary 2-03
GOAL - TIPPERARY - PATRICK MAHER
1618 John Conlon hits back for Clare with a point from close-in. O'Brien replies with a point from 40 metres before Honan scores Clare's seventh point. Clare 1-07 Tipperary 1-03
1616 It's a bad mistake by Brennan in the Clare goal as he comes to win a high ball and fails to get hold of it. With the ball running along the ground to the right of goal, Eoin Kelly wins the race to win it and places the ball into the net.
GOAL - TIPPERARY - EOIN KELLY
1615 Mickey O'Connell receives a low pass from Cooney at the halfway mark of the field. O'Connell looks up and sends a fantastic shot right between the posts. Lovely score. Clare 1-05 Tipperary 0-02
1614 Seamus Callinan goes on a long run down the right side of the fielding, squeezing away from his man and doubling Tipp's score with ease. Clare 1-04 Tipperary 0-02
1612 Lar Corbett tries to deflect the ball into the net but Clare have two men on the star forward and manage to get it away. Tipp are starting to warm to this.
1610 Cathal McInerney is on the end of a fine, patient Clare piece of play. Clare worked it really well as Tipp put pressure on their forwards and eventually the debutant found space to lob the ball over. Clare 1-04 Tipperary 0-01
1608 Conor Cooney touches the ball on the ground, leaving Eoin Kelly with a free to get Tipp up and running. Kelly makes no miastake. Clare 1-03 Tipperary 0-01
1607 Magnificent score by Fergal Lynch as he finds the target from the middle of the field for a monster score. Tipp have yet to get going here. Clare 1-03 Tipperary 0-00
1605 Conor McGrath is causing Tipp plenty of problems. He adds another score from 50 metres with a well-placed shot. Clare 1-02 Tipperary 0-00
1604 Diarmuid McMahon has been working very hard in the opening stages and this scores emphasises that as he wins possession and quickly sends it over. Clare 1-01 Tipperary 0-00
1602 A strong challenge on Conor O'Mahoney by Diarmuid McMahon sees the teams get involved in some physical exchanges off the ball. It eventually fizzles out.
1600 What a start in the Gaelic Grounds. Conor McGrath outpaces two Tipperary defenders and slams the ball past Brendan Cummins in the Tipp goal. Exactly what Clare needed. Clare 1-00 Tipperary 0-00
GOAL - CLARE - CONOR MCGRATH
1559 James Owens gets set to throw the ball in.
1554 The players are parading now. There's a big crowd in the Gaelic Grounds. Remember Clare haven't beaten Tipp in eight years.
1548 It's a big day for Clare as they face a massive test against Tipperary. The Premier are obviously over-whelming favourites but it will be fascinating to see what challenge Clare put up.
1542 Clare: P Brennan; P Vaughan, C Cooney, C Dillon; P O’Connor, J McInerney, P Donnellan; N O’Connell, J Clancy; J Conlon, F lynch, C McInerney; D McMahon, D Honan, C McGrath.
Tipperary: B Cummins; J O’Keeffe, P Curran, M Cahill; D Young, C O’Mahony, Padraic Maher; G Ryan, S McGrath; S Callinan, N McGrath, Patrick Maher; E Kelly, J O’Brien, L Corbett.
By Rob Wright
Full-time Derry's Ulster semi-final hoodoo is finally laid to rest with a very impressive display against favourites Armagh. Eoin Bradley will get all the plaudits after this game, but it was a great team performance from John Brennan's side and a thoroughly deserved victory.
1531 Derry push forward is search of a late score, but the game has gone flat now and there's no real commitment left from either side.
1530 Conlith Gilligan slots over another free for Derry as Ciaran McGoldrick replaces Mark Lynch.
1529 Sean Leo McGoldrick bursts up from the back and taps over his first point of the afternoon to extend Derry's lead.
1528 Conleth Gilligan hits Derry's tenth wide of the match, but it scarcely matters at this point.
1527 Another change for Derry and Eoin McGuckin comes of to replace Eoin Bradley, who must surely pick up the man-of-the-match award. Derry are content just to see out time now.
1525 Stupidity from Armagh's Andy Mallon. Eoin Bradley is penalised for a foul and and kicks the ball against Mallon, but Mallon loses his temper and grabs Bradley by the throat before trying to throw him to the ground. Both players are shown a yellow card, but Mallon's lucky to escape with just that.
1523 Derry's Caolan O'Boyle is introduced to replace Enda Muldoon, manager John Brennan will be thinking about closing this one out now.
1522 Paul Duffy slots one over for Armagh, but his side are still trailing by seven points with less that ten minutes to go.
Brian Gilsenan via twitter: "All 3 Derry goals into the roof of the net...under instructions due to Hearty always going down early? Yup!"
Ann-Marie McGinty via twitter: "Derry are on fire!! Will they be able to keep it up?"
1520 Armagh's heads have dropped after that Gilligan goal. They're a yard off the pace and the ferocious challenges that were snapping in up front earlier in the game are gone now.
1519 Gilligan follows up his goal with a well taken free that goes over for a point.
1518 Gilligan puts an end to Armagh's mini-fightback with a fine breakaway goal. Breaking up field after Devlin's save, Gilligan finds himself in space out on the right wing, he cuts inside and blasts a fine angled shot to the net. Derry back in charge.
GOAL! CONLETH GILLIGAN FOR DERRY
1517 Another fine save from Danny Devlin in the Derry goal, after he rushed out to block Steven McDonnell's low and poweful effort.
1516 Mark Lynch hits a poor wide for Derry. His side have dropped off the pace since Bradley's goal.
1514 Charlie Vernon tacks on another point and cuts Derry's lead to four points after some patient and incisive build-up play.
1512 Steven McDonnell slots over another one after getting on the end of the great through ball. He was thinking about the goal but was too tightly marked to get his shot away.
1511 Armagh boss Paddy O'Rourke tries to shake things up with a double substitution. PJ McCloskey comes on for Kevin Dyas, while Billy Joe Padden is replaced by Paul Duffy.
1509 Steven McDonnell rattles over another freekick to reduce the deficit to six points.
1508 This is turning into the Eoin Bradley show. A long, hopeful clearance out of defence skips over the head of Andy Mallon and Bradley pounces on the loose ball. He strides forward, waits for goalkeeper Paul Hearty and deftly chips the ball over him and to the back of the net. Great finish.
GOAL! EOIN BRADLEY FOR DERRY
1506 Eoin Bradley is giving Ciaran McKeever a torrid time. McKeever is shown a yellow card for holding the Glenullin player and Conleth Gilligan taps the free over.
1504 Wasteful from Armagh. Steven McDonnell breaks free, but his hand-pass to Jamie Clarke is overhit and he can only punch the ball against the post. There was a goal chance there for Armagh if McDonnell's pass had been better.
1503 Derrry's Dermot McBride is shown yellow for an off-the-ball incident.
1501 Steven McDonnell, who has been Armagh's best player today, floats over a point from a freekick just inside the 45".
1500 Eoin Bradley wins a freekick for his side and Conleth Gilligan converts it with ease to push Derry's lead back to four points.
1457 Derry hit back immediately with a point from James Kielt
1456 That was far too easy for Armagh. Billy Joe Padden picked up the lose ball from the throw-in, played it to Steven McDonnell who hand-passed over the Derry defence to O'Rourke. The Dromintee man made no mistake when one-on-one with the goalkeeper and blasted it home.
That was just 14 seconds into the second half.
GOAL! MICHAEL O'ROURKE FOR ARMAGH
1455 The second-half is underway with both sides opting against making any changes at the break. This will be a big 35 minutes for both sides.
Half-time That has been a great first half for Derry, who fully deserve their lead. Eoin Bradley has been in outstanding form up front, causing the Armagh backline no end of problems. Armagh boss Paddy O'Rourke has his work cut out in working just how to deal with him, because his side are coming up short right now.
1436 Barry McGoldrick is shown a yellow card after a daft foul and Steven McDonnell converts the freekick for his side's first point in 15 minutes.
1435 Vincent Martin is replaced by James Lavery while there's a break in play. But Derry continue to rack the points up as Mark Lynch taps another one over after he was afforded far too much space by Kieran Toner.
1434 Lots of admiration for Eoin Bradley's display on twitter: "Eoin Bradley is pure class" - Brian Mike Seth. "Bradly doing very well for Derry!" - Ann-Marie McGinty.
1433 Armagh try to hit back through Michael O'Rourke but he's crowded out by the Derry defence and has to rush his shot which drifts just wide.
1431 Derry are playing some great football and fully deserve that goal. The build up involves intricate hand-passing between half of the Derry front line before Lynch is played in behind the Armagh back line and blasts the ball to the back of the net from the left.
1430 GOAL! MARK LYNCH FOR DERRY
1429 Looks like Kernan's yellow card was for a bit of 'afters' following Joe Diver's contact with Mackin.
1428 That's another great point from Eoin Bradley. He sold Ciaran McKeever a dummy and blasted the ball over from 35 metres out.
1425 Tempers flare up after Joe Diver is taken down by Malachy Mackin. Diver's foot connects with the face of Charlie Vernon and it looks accidental but referee David Coldrick decides to show him a yellow card.
Armagh's Aaron Kernan is also shown yellow, hard to know what that's for though - possibly said someting he shouldn't have to the referee.
1423 Derry introduce Ciaran Mullan for Brian Og McAlary. McAlary's early yellow card and the trouble he was having with Steven McDonnell are behind the decision.
1422 Malacky Mackin hits an awful wide after picking up the ball in acres of space.
1421 Steven McDonnell reduces the deficit to a point after worming his way through a tight Derry defence and finding the room to tap over from close range.
1420 Eoin Bradley is having a great game for Derry. He picks up the loose ball out right, skips past Ciaran McKeever and slots over a fine point.
1419 Armagh's Aaron Kernan has gone down with what looks like a calve injury on his left leg. It doesn't look good for Kernan, and his injury would be a big blow for his side.
1417 Derry's Joe Diver needs treatment for a blow to the head and it gives both sides a chance to draw breath after what has been a frantic and entertaining opening.
1416 Jamie Clarke claims a great point from what looked to be an impossible angle out on the left.
1415 Great save from Danny Devlin in the Derry goal. Billy Joe Padden broke forward and played the ball to Steven McDonnell, who was in space in front of the Derry goal, but Devlin was out smartly to bloke the shot.
1414 Eoin Bradley is given far too much space from Donnaghy and slots over a simple point from 15m out. Bradley is the real danger man for Derry this afternoon and Armagh are struggling to contain him so far.
1412 Conleth Gilligan's free from out left goes over with little fuss to put Derry back in front. Armagh's Brendan Donnaghy is shown the yellow card for what appears to be an off-the-ball incident.
1411 Micheál O'Rourke levels things up again with a neat score from a tight angle.
1410 Mark Lynch hits a fine point from out wide on the right. He cuts back inside his marker Vincent Martin and launches a booming shot that sails over the bar.
1409 A snap-shot from Steven McDonnell drifts just wide after some dangerous build-up play from Armagh.
1408 Jamie Clarke is dragged down in front of the Derry goal and Brian Og McAlary sees yellow for that foul. Aaron Kernan taps the resulting free over.
1406 Brendan Donaghy is penalised for holding Eoin Bradley up front and Derry have a freekick right in front of the posts. Bradley takes it himself and slots it over.
1405 Armagh captain Steven McDonnell has a straight-forward free to level the scores and he doesn't waste it. The sides are level.
1404 Derry have started this one very brightly. Armagh goalkeeper Paul Hearty is called into action and has to rush out of his goal to intercept a dangerous through pass from Eoin Bradley.
1401 Great block from Brendan Donaghy. Eoin Bradley breaks forward and looks to have found the space for a point, but Donaghy dives to block his effort, when he had no right to.
However Armagh give away a soft freekick and Bradley isn't denied a second time as he taps it over.
1400 Referee David Coldrick of Meath throws the ball up and the game is underway. There's a smaller that expected crowd at Clones, which was not a popular choice among supporters for this game.
1348 Armagh have made a late change of their own, with Vincent Martin getting the nod ahead of Paul Duffy in the half-back line. No word of the reason for the decision.
1343 Armagh go into this game as heavy favourites, with few pundits and fewer bookmakers giving Derry much of a chance.
Armagh boss Paddy O'Rourke has tried to play down his side's favourites tag, while John Brennan of Derry is insisting that his charges won't let their poor record against Armagh play on their minds. It's still hard to see anything beyond an Armagh win.
Brennan has made two changes to his starting line-up, with Kevin McGuckin and James Kielt coming in to replace Kevin McCloy and Cailean O’Boyle.
Armagh: P Hearty; A Mallon, B Donaghy, K Dyas; A Kernan, C McKeever, V Martin ; K Toner, C Vernon; T Kernan, BJ Padden, M Mackin; M O’Rourke, S McDonnell, J Clarke.
Derry: Danny Devlin, Sean McGoldrick, Kevin McGuckin, Dermot McBride, Brian McAlary, Charlie Kielt, Michael Bateson, Joe Diver, Michael Friel, Mark Lynch, James Kielt, Barry McGoldrick, Enda Muldoon, Eoin Bradley, Conleth Gilligan.
