Clare joint-manager Donal Moloney admits this weekend’s Munster SHC opening round-robin clash against Waterford is full of intrigue.
A ‘novel occasion" is how he described it to RTÉ Sport as the Banner make the visit to Walsh Park hoping to get their provincial campaign off to a winning start on the road.
The sides met less than two months ago at the same venue as the Deise ended Clare’s League interest with a comfortable 14-point victory.
After playing all their games outside the county last year, Moloney expects a stern challenge from the home side.
"I know that Waterford as a county have fought hard to ensure they earn the right to play their home games there," he said.
"It's a relatively novel occasion. Munster Championship hurling hasn't taken place in Walsh Park for quite a while."
A while is somewhat of an understatement. It is 16 years in fact since Walsh Park hosted a Munster championship encounter, when Tipperary had three points to spare over the home side.
Due to health and safety considerations, a capacity of 11,050 has been set for the opening game of this year’s Munster Championship and the visitors know it makes their challenge even greater.
"Every home venue is a an advantage to their county. It should be worth two or three points to any county playing at home.
"Fair play to them for doing that [fighting for home games]. We know what it's like to play a home championship match after last summer. They're riveting occasions, and I'm sure Sunday will be similar to that.
"Waterford have always got tremendous quality, and I think they're a little bit rejuvenated as well this year."
Does he take much from Waterford’s second-half tour de force back in March?
"They were really flying it on the day. They were really excellent, and we were well off the pace on the day. I think that was down a lot to Waterford's performance.
"It's not surprise to us the sort of performances they can turn up, so irrespective of the league game we know that going in here is a massive test."
Follow all the hurling action this weekend via our live blogs on RTÉ.ie/sport and the News Now app, listen to live national commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 and watch live and exclusive TV coverage of the Munster SHC on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player this Sunday.
