RTÉ Sport analyst David Tubridy believes that Keelan Sexton holds the key to the Banner's ambitions of reaching the All-Ireland round-robin series.
After their six-season stay in Division 2 came to an end in March, Colm Collins and his players produced the perfect response with a one-point Munster win over Cork in Ennis.
They now face Limerick in the provincial semi-final on 22 April with the winner set to play in the Sam Maguire race rather than the Tailteann Cup, and Tubridy believes that his old attacking partner Sexton has the ability to ensure that the Banner are involved in the former.
"Starting off the game, he won two balls, kicked a point, had a wide," he told the RTÉ GAA Podcast.
"Cork had to bring a man back in front of him, put a sweeper in and try and block off that quick ball. They kind of did in the first half but the second half, Keelan came out and about and got on the ball.
"He’s a fella when the dander is up, there’s no better man to give the ball. He was looking all day for it, he won frees, an outstanding performance.
"He was injured for the league for a good few of the games, back in full fitness now. A brilliant performance and Clare need to get him the ball as much as they can [over] the next few weeks."
This was Clare’s first championship match since Tubridy announced his inter-county retirement in January, and he couldn’t have been happier after his first experience watching as a fan.
He felt that Darren O’Neill’s introduction for Cathal O’Connor at the break was crucial, especially with their opponents failing to deal with the switch.
"I was very surprised with Cork, they kept going with the overload kick-out on the left. They didn’t change it up at all, everyone in the stand knew where the kick-out was going.
"Darren was there and I think Darren caught two clean kick-outs and broke a few after that.
"Clare won the breaks and I just thought Cork were one dimensional, there was no change up with the kick-out. They were under a lot of pressure, nobody looking for it short or anything like that."
Tubridy always felt that Clare had the ability to beat Cork for the first time in the championship since 1997.
The two games followed a similar pattern – Clare grabbing the first few points, Cork responding to develop a comfortable lead before the home side fought back and grabbed a last-gasp winner, a Martin Daly goal in '97 and a Cillian Rouine point on Sunday.
"I knew there was going to be a kick-back from these boys," Tubridy continued.
"The performance in the league, they never really had their full panel of players or full team out any day, they were always missing one key player every game or two key players...the performance was just outstanding the second half.
"Probably the best 20, 25 minutes of Clare football that I’ve seen in a long, long time.
"It was free-flowing, kick-passing into the forwards, which the last few years wasn’t there. Everybody put their shoulder to the wheel."
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