Considering the mood in hurling at the start of the weekend, after an underwhelming championship, there is every reason to be happy with the two All-Ireland semi-finals.Galway brought the excitement on Saturday, sparking with the energy of a new and exciting team very much on the way up in the world. Sunday was different, a renewal of the ferocious rivalry between two groups of players, who have battled each other all the way up from underage.[ Nicky English: Galway joy shines through while Cork shortcomings laid bareOpens in new window ]Limerick once again were successful and move on to the final, but it was very hard on Clare, who came so close to springing a huge surprise after a championship when they haven’t always been at their best. They threw everything at this, but tripped up on an accumulation of small things that saw a tight match tilt against them in the end.Conor Cleary had done a great job on Gearóid Hegarty, who has been having a great championship, but once he got a yellow card the Clare defender was replaced. Hegarty went on to be an unstoppable force.I had been confident for Clare at half-time, as they had what has usually been the scoring end of the ground, the Davin Stand, to play into in the second half. That didn’t work out for them and they scored only 1-3 in that time and went scoreless for the last 18 minutes as Limerick reeled them in.[ Limerick seize the day to reach another final and leave resurgent Clare heartbroken ]There was controversy over the foul by Nickie Quaid in the 57th minute. This was a clear cynical foul on Peter Duggan to prevent a goal-scoring chance. If that doesn’t trigger a black card and sin-binning – which apparently it does not because the player fouled has to be in possession of the ball – the whole rule needs to be overhauled or just dropped because it’s meaningless.There also appeared to be a suggestion of interference with Duggan’s helmet, which would be a red card. Whatever the reality of that, yellow feels like the last card merited by the incident.Limerick's Gearoid Hegarty is fouled by Conor Cleary and Niall O'Farrell of Clare. Photograph: James Crombie/INPHO Tony Kelly, who was outstanding, scored the penalty, but had Quaid been in the bin for 10 minutes then that would have had a major impact.It is a pity to have any of that hanging over such a powerful and compelling match. Clare needed clearer thinking at the end. They chased a goal when two down, which I think was tactically incorrect. It would have been better to take a point and concentrate on winning the puckout.They might argue that Quaid almost spilled the ball when blocking a shot, but, ultimately, they didn’t get the scores to save the match.There were other examples of Clare fallibility earlier. Mark Rodgers had a poor wide from a free around the hour mark. Shane O’Donnell, who was in fine form in the first half, faded afterwards and on the restart, shot a wide, confirmed by Hawk-Eye. Diarmuid Ryan had another.Clare's Tony Kelly with Mike Casey and Cian Lynch of Limerick. Photograph: Tom O’Hanlon/INPHO It wasn’t that Limerick were flawless – Diarmaid Byrnes missed a couple of frees to go with those he scored – but they were able to keep chipping away at the scoreboard when Clare were unable to.Limerick got a boost from their subs. Cian Lynch won the ball that ended in Adam English sending in a great delivery for O’Connor’s goal. In last year’s Munster final, English was shooting a wide from that sort of position. This time, he delivered a perfectly measured ball.Limerick are back in the final to play Galway, who gave a Micheál Donoghue masterclass on Saturday when overwhelming a disappointing Cork, who relived the nightmare of last year’s All-Ireland final second half, this time scoring 0-5 as opposed to 0-2, but the outcome was the same.Their defensive style is based on huge levels of work rate and perfectly combines the veteran contingent and the younger players.[ Galway outmanoeuvre Cork with devastating second-half performance to reach All-Ireland final ]Cork's Brian Hayes and Cillian Trayers of Galway in Saturday's semi-final. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/INPHO Jason Rabbitte showed amazing maturity in his ability to win ball, hold it up and use the possession well. Cork never got on top of him – a deserved Man of the Match.Cathal Mannion had a great match, playing deep and calling the shots. At one stage even he looked surprised to receive a ball with no Cork player next or near him. He put it over the bar.But for me, the real sign of a team that’s going places was reflected in the way that the vastly experienced Daithi Burke and Conor Whelan, who had struggled in the first half, both dug in and responded with really improved second halves.The general reaction will be to question Cork’s bottle after another big-match collapse. I believe it’s more straightforward. My impression is that too many of the Cork players struggle technically when matches go to Croke Park.That stage really intensifies the test of hurling skills and is a step up from the rough and tumble pressures of the Munster championship – as they have found in the past two years.