The outlook for Waterford's survival chances in 1A after the trimming on Leeside in round one was not one of positivity.
In front of more than 20,000 spectators at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the Ben O’Connor era began with a comfortable 14-point victory, with the vast majority of the contest resembling a challenge match rather than the first competive game of the year.
The game was put to bed in the first 10 minutes with a callow Waterford side - Daniel Lalor, Seán Mackey, and James Power came in for league debuts before Jack Fagan was added to their mounting injury list - unable to stop the Rebels running riot.
Yet maximum points from outings against Limerick and Offaly has changed that outlook. Indeed Peter Queally’s men head to Nowlan Park today knowing a rare league win against the Cats would not only effectively preserve their status, but keep the hosts in the relegation conversation.
Offaly, with three defeats from three, are set for a return to 1B, with pointless Galway, along with Kilkenny -on two points - all currently in the mix.
It was the unexpected win over Limerick that has given the depleted group a shot in the arm.
With just four league defeats from 17 outings at Walsh Park, Waterford tend to give a better account of themselves on home turf.
De La Salle's Reuben Halloran has become the scorer-in-chief and did as much as anyone to lower Treaty colours, though the injury to captain and full-back Conor Prunty was the one grey cloud in the sky.
'Average’ was Queally’s description of the more ‘workmanlike’ success over struggling Offaly. Leading by the bare minimum at the break, the introduction of the experienced Stephen Bennett helped the Déise home.
What would have pleased the management as much as the result was the performance of Conor Keane in the full-back line. The De La Salle man was tasked with picking up Offaly's Adam Screeney and ended the game as the player of the match with a sticky display on the livewire forward.
Now it’s a date with neighbours Kilkenny, a fixture that has not been kind to Waterford in recent years.
Conversely, Waterford have won the last two championship outings. In 2017, extra-time goals from Jamie Barron and Maurice Shanahan at Semple Stadium helped topple Kilkenny in championship hurling for the first time since 1959.
The following year the round-robin was introduced and Waterford are yet to navigate their way from the provincial suite of fixtures to the All-Ireland series. The only outlier came in a Covid-impacted 2020 season, where they lost to Limerick in a Munster final before turning over Kilkenny in an eerily-quiet Croke Park in an All-Ireland semi-final.
Aside from that, this particular rivalry has been played out primarily in the league and it doesn’t make for good reading from a Waterford perspective.
You have to go back to 2017 – five months before downing the Black and Amber in championship for the first time in 58 years – for the last time Waterford got the better of the Cats in springtime.
With the Déise operating out of 1B last year, the last meeting between the sides was a three-point win at Walsh Park for the visitors in 2024.
That sodden March afternoon saw Kilkenny advance to a league semi-final. With Waterford already relegated, less than 3,000 passed through the turnstiles to witness events unfold.
There appears to be greater optimism surrounding Waterford at the moment, even if a lot of that is predicated on getting everyone back to full fitness.
One man who won’t be around this season is former Hurler of the Year Austin Gleeson, having been plagued with injuries in recent years.
Calum Lyons is expected to be back soon, while the early season form from the likes of Shane Bennett, Jamie Barron and Charlie Treen, who picked off three points from play against Limerick, is a boon for Queally.
Kilkenny are odds-on favourites to claim a second win of the campaign, but Waterford travel knowing with one upset in the bag already, a second is within their compass.
Watch Allianz League Sunday from 9.35pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
