John Kiely said Limerick were determined to not let Clare come into their "backyard" and snatch the Munster championship from their grasp.
Having lost to Clare by a point at the TUS Gaelic Grounds last month, Limerick responded in impressive fashion as they overturned a half-time deficit to complete their first Munster five-in-a-row.
Aaron Gillane hit 1-11 for the All-Ireland champions, who led by four points with ten minutes remaining but were then forced to withstand a late Clare rally to hold on for a 1-23 to 1-22 success.
"I'm just thrilled and elated for the lads," Limerick manager Kiely told RTÉ Sport. "They've put a huge amount of work in over these last number of years.
"This year has been a really tough campaign, every team has brought an unbelievable level of performance against us. Clare were the one team that beat us in the round robin and we were very determined that wasn’t going to happen today.
"I don’t think anybody likes someone coming into your backyard and taking anything from them. We were always going to have to fight tooth and nail.
"This is a top-quality Clare side, they have shown that in terms of their resilience and determination. Hats off to them, they brought a tremendous effort. It was down to the smallest of margins. We just came off at the right side."
Limerick trailed to a Mark Rodgers' goal at the interval but they shifted up a gear after the restart, with their bench also making an impact during a tense final finish.
Tom Morrissey spoke to the RTÉ panel with the Limerick supporters lauding him in the background
"We came out a much stronger and more energetic team in the second half," said Kiely. "For the last ten minutes of the first half we lost our energy a little bit. We struggled at that part of the game but you’re always going to have spells in a game where you’re going strong and weak. It’s a case of minimising the damage that occurs when you are having a bad spell, and maximising the damage that you can do when you’re having a good spell.
"I think we got the balance just right today. It was a really tough game, a fantastic Munster final and a great occasion.
"Clare and ourselves, we’ll meet again, I’ve no doubt. We have special battles every time we meet. This was just another chapter in that story."
Kiely’s counterpart Brian Lohan said Clare’s poor conversion rate cost them dearly but felt they should have been awarded a last-gasp free inside scoring range, with Tony Kelly and Adam Hogan both felled as they chased an equaliser.
"We find it very hard to get decisions," said Lohan. "We don’t have that much power or influence or anything like that. It’s tough for our lads. Is it hard to take? Yeah.
"It was very even in a lot of areas but the biggest area where there was a big difference was shooting efficiency. We weren’t as efficient as we could have been or needed to be to win the game. That decided the result."
Clare have two weeks to regroup ahead of an All-Ireland quarter-final against Dublin or Carlow and Lohan admitted he faces a challenge to lift his players after their 25-year wait for a Munster championship was extended.
"That’s the big challenge with the way the championship is structured," he said. "It’s all go, you don’t really get a chance to recover. You just move onto the next game and that’s what we have to do now."
