For a long time it looked like Kilkenny were going to beat Clare for the third year in a row in the All-Ireland hurling semi-final.

As if losing three successive Munster finals to Limerick wasn't bad enough.

But Brian Lohan’s men fought like their careers depended on it and most of them will now contest their first All-Ireland decider in a fortnight’s time.

At the final whistle, the Clare fans - who looked about three-quarters of the almost 40,000 at Croke Park - danced in their seats to the sound of 90s anthem 'Freed from Desire’.

But the desire for a trophy is still there. This was freedom from failure, an outpouring of relief that a team with so many talented players had finally delivered on their potential in a big game, to record the county's first victory at Croke Park in 11 years.

"You don't want to be the nearly guy or the nearly team all the time," admitted Lohan afterwards.

"There was that pressure – to lose three in a row up here, on the back of three in a row in Munster – but sometimes you just get fed up and it has to stop some time.

"Sometimes it's just a case of enough is enough, we have to respond, we have to give our supporters something to cheer about. We can't let them down again.

"Things turn around when you work hard and our lads work hard. Our big guys stood up. The game is over 70 minutes, it's not over 35 minutes and you have an opportunity to reset and change things. We did that and our players responded and we're delighted."

Clare had been lucky to only trail by five points – 1-10 to 0-08 – at half-time, having been completely outplayed, but they fought back to win by two.

"The first half we were very frustrated," said Lohan. "We had put down two really good weeks of training and had good planning and we felt we had a good idea of what we wanted to do but just didn't do it.

"Typical Kilkenny, you come up with great ideas and you're just not able to do it. They kind of blew us out of it around the middle of the field, that middle eight. They had huge space.

"We were defending reasonably well and weren't conceding a massive score but it was very frustrating at half-time that we didn't do what we'd hoped we were going to do in that first-half.

"We probably weren't punished as badly as we could have been punished.

"But there were so many fellas that didn't perform in that first-half. We just gave the guys another opportunity and fair play to our guys, they toughed it out and did great in that second half."

Clare manager Brian Lohan (L) celebrates with selector Tommy Corbett

Goalkeeper Eibhear Quilligan had stopped three shots in the first half but was caught out for Kilkenny’s second goal in the 47th minute, just as Clare were building up steam.

It was last year’s semi-final all over again but Lohan was delighted that his team refused to be rattled this time around.

"There were two sucker punches really. There was the goal that was scored and then there was the Eoin Murphy save from Aidan McCarthy [six minutes later], that was another big potential turning point.

"But in fairness to our lads they showed a bit of resilience, showed a bit of maturity and got the point, and got the next point, and played the game based on the next ball all the time. Kilkenny didn't score from the 58th minute on so we reeled off six points in a row."

Ian Galvin (R) and Tony Kelly celebrate Clare's last score of the game

Lohan revealed that he had given the panel the week off after the Munster final despite having to play an All-Ireland quarter-final 13 days later.

"If we won the Munster final, we were going to take a week off," he said. "We lost the Munster final and we just said we needed to reset.

"We took a week off and it left us vulnerable for a quarter-final. We maybe wouldn't have had the hurling. [But] It also meant that if we did get over the quarter-final we were in good shape, since that game against Wexford it seems like our year has just started.

"There was great energy in training, really good energy in training for the last two weeks. Our players have a brilliant attitude and a are great bunch to be around. very good atmosphere inside the camp for the last couple of weeks."

"We've an ambitious group. They want to win All-Irelands"

In an odd way, if Limerick are also in the final in two weeks’ time then the expectation around Clare will ease somewhat. Who will fancy them to beat opponents they have lost to in their last three meetings?

It's Lohan's strong belief that they can.

"Every team that gets to an All-Ireland final, wants to win it. That’s part of the deal that there’s pressure to win all the time.

"We started out this year, having been in two semi-finals. We’ve an ambitious group. They want to win All-Irelands. They want to win Munster championships. They haven’t done that so that’s the pressure but we are ambitious.

"We don’t be shouting about it but it’s there at the same time."

Clare won't be freed from desire unless Liam MacCarthy spends the winter but at least they will get the chance to fight for him.

Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship semi-final between Limerick and Cork at 4pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1