Cork sent their supporters into dreamland again in Thurles this evening as they launched a magnificent second half comeback against Clare to win through to an All-Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny.
The Rebels, having been nine points down, roared back to set up an 10 August showdown with the defending champions after an epic quarter-final encounter.
Barry Nugent's batted goal finish in the 31st minute and five points from the on song Niall Gilligan had a hungry Clare side 1-10 to 0-05 ahead at half-time.
But seven-point hero Ben O'Connor and substitutes Timmy McCarthy (1-00), Kieran 'Fraggy' Murphy (1-00) and Neil Ronan (0-02) - allied to the tactical nous of their management and sheer heart of their team-mates - drove Cork to an incredible win.
It was Championship heartbreak for Clare yet again and losing to Cork in the heat of the summer is becoming all too familiar for the Banner's senior hurlers.
This was Clare's sixth successive Championship defeat to Cork and one they will want to forget as soon as possible.
Had luck been on their side in an eventful second half, they might have won a timely penalty.
Jonathan Clancy also had a decent shout for a point which was waved wide but Cork, with their greater experience and enviable running game coming to the fore, decisively held their nerve.
Facing a win-or-bust Championship game for the third week running, Cork manager Gerald McCarthy made just one change to the team that came from behind against Galway eight days ago.
Patrick Horgan came into the attack for Timmy McCarthy, who had been nursing an ankle injury.
Clare boss Mike McNamara, whose side last saw competitive action in the Munster final on 10 July, brought Brendan Bugler and Barry Nugent back into the starting line-up.
Bugler missed the loss to Tipperary due to suspension and came back in for Conor Plunkett, while Mark Flaherty lost his place in the forwards to Nugent.
In humid conditions, Cork won the toss but lacked any spark in the early stages and they were decidedly flat throughout the opening half.
A monster second-minute point from Tony Carmody got Clare on the march, after some good link-up play involving midfielders Colin Lynch and Brian O'Connell.
A feature of the opening quarter was Cork full-back Diarmuid O'Sullivan's struggle to keep tabs on the elusive Niall Gilligan.
O'Sullivan has been out of sorts in the championship to date and McCarthy's decision not to switch him off Gilligan seemed an unwise one.
After an O'Connell point attempt had come back off an upright and Brian Murphy had flicked the sliotar out for a '65', Gilligan stepped up to show his placed-ball brilliance.
Joe Deane got into the game in the sixth-minute when he pumped the ball across to the right wing from where the unmarked Niall McCarthy was able to swing over Cork's first point.
The Rebels missed out on a goal in the tenth-minute when Clare 'keeper Philip Brennan and defender Gerry O'Grady both did well to smother a stinging shot from Ben O'Connor.
Wides blighted Clare's play in the Munster final and wayward shooting was again threatening to derail them today - a poor miss from Lynch in the 11th minute was their fifth wide.
They did move 0-04 to 0-01 ahead when Quinn and Gilligan fired over consecutive points.
Gilligan's effort was a peach of a score and exhibited all that was good about Clare's play in the opening 35 minutes.
Clare's half-backs were dominating their opponents, not allowing them get into the game and their deliveries in towards Gilligan and Nugent were also keeping Cork's vaunted half-back line quiet.
The move for Gilligan's point began with an excellent interception from Pat Donnellan, who, along with Bugler, added some much-needed pace to the Clare defence.
A successful free from Ben O'Connor was followed by a series of wides from both outfits and by the 19th minute Clare had taken their wides tally to seven.
Tim Kenny's brilliant hook on Diarmuid McMahon was quickly turned into a point for Deane, who cut Clare's lead to 0-04 to 0-03.
The tempo of the game increased as Nugent turned onto his right and pointed. The Banner maintained that two-point gap as they quickly turned a 0-05 to 0-03 lead into 0-07 to 0-05.
A brace of points came from Donnellan, with his first championship score, and Gilligan, while Pa Cronin and Horgan, who was making his first championship start, did likewise for Cork.
But Clare then turned on the afterburners to score 1-04 without reply. Gilligan started the run off with a fine long range free and Diarmuid McMahon, with a lovely left-handed catch and point, added to it.
A terrific sideline cut from the left from Clare captain O'Connell moved his side 0-10 to 0-05 ahead.
Then came the half's only goal as Nugent, following the flight of a high ball dangled towards the Cork square, produced a neat piece of skill to flick it beyond the grasp of Donal Óg Cusack.
The Clare faithful roared their approval as Gilligan landed his fifth point, in the 33rd minute, to put nine points between the sides.
The shocked Cork fans breathed a sigh of relief in the second-minute of injury-time when Jerry O'Connor pointed after some persistent play by Deane.
Eight points in arrears and staring at an embarrassing championship exit, half-time came at just the right time for McCarthy's men.
Just as they did when they were in trouble at the break in the Galway game, John Gardiner and his team-mates rallied superbly with a second half performance full of determination, passion and an overflowing amount of skill.
Clare, who really had the game within their grasp, had done enough in the first half to suggest that this was their day.
But as the second half began, Cork quickly created an avenue for themselves to get back in touch.
Incredibly, the deficit was back to just four points - 1-11 to 1-07 - within three minutes of the restart.
Ben O'Connor flung over a 36th-minute free before Timmy McCarthy, on as a substitute for Niall McCarthy, followed up with a timely goal.
It was a soft goal for Clare to concede, Brennan should really have had the shot covered but McCarthy's low drive skipped past the Tulla man and nestled in the net.
After a Horgan point, Clare needed to steady themselves and they did just that when Carmody and Jonathan Clancy crept over two important points.
Clare were just about keeping Cork at arm's length but successive points from Pa Cronin, Ben O'Connor and Tom Kenny, who blasted through on a trademark run, had Cork just two points down (1-13 to 1-11).
The diminutive Clancy, who was coming more and more into the game, landed a classy point from close to the left sideline to reopen Clare's goal lead.
Horgan sent over his third point in reply but Clare were thrown a lifeline by Diarmuid McMahon when he scrambled home a 47th-minute goal despite the presence of Cusack and Seán Óg Ó hAilpín.
The Banner side were 2-14 to 1-12 ahead at that point and looked to have weathered Cork's early storm.
They might have had a good opportunity for a third goal, barely a minute later, when another high ball in caused problems for the Cork full-back line.
Gilligan caught the sliotar superbly and as he wrestled to try and get free and get a sight of goal, O'Sullivan was seen holding back the Clare number 15.
Referee Dickie Murphy and his umpires let the incident pass and Gilligan's subsequent kicked effort flew into the side-netting.
Drawing on their mental reserves, Cork summoned a big push in the closing 20 minutes and somehow managed to find an extra gear.
The introductions of McCarthy, Murphy and Ronan were key as was O'Sullivan's withdrawal and the realligning of the Cork defence and midfield.
Gardiner moved to full-back, Tom Kenny was in sweeper mode in the half-back and Cathal Naughton's pace tormented the Clare midfield.
Clare tried valiantly to hang onto their lead but they could only muster three points in the closing 20 minutes with their star man Gilligan accounting for all three.
Around the 50-minute mark, O'Connor and Gilligan traded frees and then Cork really upped the ante when Murphy netted with his first touch, ghosting onto the rebound of a Pa Cronin shot that had bounced back off the post.
Next up, the increasingly influential Ben O'Connor pointed from play off a Horgan pass to put just a point between the sides at 2-15 to 2-14.
The Rebels were back on terms in the 57th minute when O'Connor sent a '65' over the crossbar. The Cork number 10's seventh point, just two minutes later, had his side suddenly ahead.
Gilligan was able to level the sides for a second and third time, sandwiching a Naughton point with two well-struck frees, but Clare looked a shadow of the team that dominated the first half.
Cork were also getting onto the majority of breaking balls and one such break led to substitute Neil Ronan pointing with his first touch.
As the clock ticked towards 70 minutes, Cork never really looked assured. Why would they with just a one-point lead, and nerves began to show as Timmy McCarthy, Gardiner, Naughton and Jerry O'Connor all hit late wides.
Searching for that levelling point, Clare looked to have done it when Clancy cracked a shot over from close range - yet the umpires signalled it wide, much to the wing-forward's annoyance.
It was left to Ronan to confirm crestfallen Clare's exit from the 2008 Championship as he landed the insurance point in the 72nd minute, after linking with Ben O'Connor.
A fantastic game of hurling, played in ideal conditions and watched by a spellbound 37,812-strong crowd.
Cork now have the match they have long wanted - a chance to ruin Kilkenny's All-Ireland three-in-a-row hopes, as the Cats did to them in 2006.
It is a heavyweight battle that really whets the appetite, but spare a thought for McNamara's Clare panel who can be proud of the strides they have made this season.
Cork: D Óg Cusack; S O'Neill, D O'Sullivan, B Murphy; J Gardiner (capt), R Curran, S Óg Ó hAilpín; T Kenny (0-01), J O'Connor (0-01); B O'Connor (0-07, 3f, 1 '65'), N McCarthy (0-01), P Cronin (0-02); C Naughton (0-01), J Deane (0-01), P Horgan (0-03).
Subs used: T McCarthy (1-00) for N McCarthy (35 mins), Kieran Murphy (Sarsfields) (1-00) for O'Sullivan (51), N Ronan (0-02) for Deane (65).
Clare: P Brennan; P Vaughan, F Lohan, G O'Grady; B Bugler, G Quinn (0-01, 1f), P Donnellan (0-01); B O'Connell (capt) (0-01, 1 sl), C Lynch; T Carmody (0-02), D McMahon (1-01), J Clancy (0-02); T Griffin, B Nugent (1-01), N Gilligan (0-08, 3f, 1 '65').
Subs used: D O'Rourke for McMahon (26-27 mins, blood sub), A Markham for Griffin (59), F Lynch for Nugent (60), M Flaherty for Carmody (69).
Referee: Dickie Murphy (Wexford).
