2007 Hurler of the Year Dan Shanahan believes that a strong league campaign is important for Waterford. The Lismore man reached three league finals as a player and won the title in 2007.

"If you have a good league, you're going to have a good championship. The players are going to be confident. There's no better place to be than going training after winning league games. It makes training easier. If you start losing, it makes training harder. Lads are down, changes are being made, the manager is under pressure. The next minute, all of a sudden, going into the championship, it's not working. That's why the league is so important that you get momentum."

His Lismore club mate Carthach Daly will make his league debut away to Dublin on Sunday. "I think he's a special player. If he was with any other club, I would be saying the same thing. He has speed, he has size and he has that divilment inside of him. He doesn't like to be beaten. When you have that, you tend to go places."

Dan Shanahan talked about trips to Parnell Park, Tony Browne and Padraic Maher on the Lár Na Páirce League Special. Click on the image above to listen back to the full interview.