I've seen such a difference in this Waterford team this year. I saw them in Croke Park first-hand and that semi-final performance was one of the greatest second-half performances I've ever seen in person.
It was a real privilege to be there - 2-17 in a half of hurling - phenomenal!
A lot of the commentary in the build up to this game has been about how good Limerick are at turning over the ball - hooking, blocking - but I think Waterford are there with them.
John Kiely's side have hit 2-52 from turnovers in their four games, but Waterford have scored 1-52 from turnovers in their four matches - they're so evenly matched.
On top of that, Waterford were able to improve massively on their own puck-out retention between the Munster final, when it was down at 47%, and that win over Kilkenny, where they got it up to 70%.
Jack Fagan was a key part of this improvement, winning 12 puck-outs against the Cats, setting up two goals, and scoring a point himself.
Austin Gleeson is another player who can win possession of his own puck-out, and they need to get on top of their own puck-outs early on to get a foothold in the game.
We saw Galway sitting back in the semi-final, and this allowed Nicky Quaid to find one of his backs so that Limerick could launch attacks.
Waterford need to put more pressure on the Limerick goalkeeper, pushing up as far as possible, and forcing him to go long more often. This will push Quaid towards landing the ball closer towards Waterford's strongest line, the half-backs.
On the flip side, Limerick's strongest line is their half-forward line - a lot of their play goes through Cian Lynch, Tom Morrissey, or Gearoid Hegarty. That line is averaging 0-08 per game
Waterford have to make life difficult for them, crowding them out, closing the space, and winning the breaks. If they can limit the damage there, they can stay in this game.
Something I've noticed in the games is that Limerick seem to really dominate after the water breaks in each half. They're averaging 0-09 points in the second quarter.
While Waterford have been strongest in the third quarter, and that was particularly true against Kilkenny when they completely turned things around.
Liam Cahill's side have to disrupt Limerick in that period approaching half-time because once the Munster champions get on top of you it's very hard to fight against that flow.
It might mean changing the puck-out strategy for a few minutes or a positional change - moving Stephen Bennett into the half-forward line, Gleeson into the full-forward line.
Limerick will have to react, and it might be a means of breaking their rhythm.
The Treaty men have an incredible panel and being able to bring in the likes of Séamus Flanagan, Adrian Breen, Pat Ryan or the last day it was Peter Casey is a massive asset to them.
It's worth noting though that Waterford have been able to reap the benefit of a similar scoring bounce off the bench with both counties managing 1-09 off the bench in their four matches.
The subs got 1-04 for the Suirsiders in the semi-final, including 1-01 for Darragh Lyons.
Most interestingly though, the only game where the Waterford subs didn't do that was in the Munster final. So those fresh legs will have to tell on Sunday if Liam MacCarthy is going to be pulling into Plunkett Station on Sunday evening.
Liam Cahill, I really can't compliment him enough for the job that he's done with this team in such a short space of time. 2018 and 2019 were such difficult years for the Déise, but to reach both finals on offer in the championship is fantastic.
Himself and Michael Bevan will have learned so much from that Munster final defeat.
When he was in charge of the Tipp under-20s in 2018 he brought them from a 13-point defeat to Cork in the Munster final to an All-Ireland win a few weeks later against the same opposition.
He seems to instil incredible belief in his players, and he'll be telling them that Sunday is a new game and that anything is possible.
Another massive thing for Waterford this year is the lack of the same level of hype and build-up that we saw heading into 2017, and particular 2008. It's just not going to be the same type of carnival atmosphere that they had to go through in previous attempts to win.
It's John Kiely's fourth season in charge and he's done a brilliant job. He's only lost five of his 19 championship matches so far, and for Waterford to turn them over would be a massive achievement.
All that said, I fancy my neighbours to cause a surprise. I backed Waterford in the semi-final and I'm backing them to end the famine on Sunday afternoon.
