Clare's John Conlon says defeating Waterford at an "intimidating" grounds like Walsh Park is a "massive win" for the Banner.
The 1-20 to 0-22 victory sees Clare get their Munster SHC campaign off to a winning start but the home side produced a late rally to leave the bare minimum between the sides at the final whistle.
Conlon's first-half goal ultimately proved to be the decisive score as Clare avenged the heavy league semi-final defeat they suffered against the Déise back in March.
"It was a massive win for us," a relieved Conlon told RTÉ Sport after the final whistle.
"I suppose we came down here about eight weeks ago. I wasn't playing myself but we got an awful trimming. I remember in the dressing room, there were a lot of disheartened faces and [wondering] what kind of went wrong.
"We got two weeks off and for the last six weeks, we just focused on Waterford totally and coming down to put in a massive performance in Walsh Park.
"It's great to get out on the right side."
The first goal of the 2019 Munster Hurling Championship goes to Clare and John Conlon!
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) May 12, 2019
Watch match highlights of @GaaClare and @WaterfordGAA on @rte2 tonight at 9.30pm pic.twitter.com/Iw4slqXVeo
Clare were six points clear at half-time but Waterford's second-half display saw them cut through that deficit, with Tommy Ryan bringing them back to within a point of the visiting side at the death.
Conlon hailed Waterford's resilience and remarked that maintaining their lead was a difficult challenge in the "intimating" surroundings of Walsh Park.
"We were about five or six up at half-time and they came back. We pushed it out again to about five or six and we kind of lost the run of ourselves. These kind of grounds are very intimidating.
"The crowd is getting in behind you [and] if there was another minute or two it probably was a draw. They could have won it but that's the joys of the Munster championship. We know it's a long year yet but we've three weeks off until Tipperary and we'll knuckle down and focus."
He added: "We came down last night. We've dissected everything Waterford have done over the year. They've been very successful in the league and we knew it was going to be a massive challenge.
"Coming down here was not easy and it won't be for Limerick in a few weeks time.
