Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh is no stranger to the Munster Senior Hurling Championship.

The Stradbally star lifted the Mick Mackey Cup in 2004, 2007 and 2010 – and wouldn’t be against the idea of the trophy doing another stint on Suirside.

Waterford must of course walk before they can considering running, but going into their Munster Championship opener against Clare next Sunday off the back of six successive victories – the mood in the Déise imbues a quite sense of confidence, that maybe this can be the year they finally scale the ever growing mountain that getting out of Munster has become.

Quizzed on if getting out of the province is Waterford’s sole ambition, the four-time All Star acknowledged that can be the only realistic aim for everyone in the week’s ahead.

“Well, realistically I’d say it’s everyone’s ambition. The first game is pivotal for everyone, particularly in the Munster Championship. Everyone is capable of beating anyone. From a Waterford perspective they’ve had a lot of injuries but they’ve got a bit of momentum going now, and they’re coming into the Clare game in a nice position. There’s no point in saying otherwise.”

“That said, it’s going to be huge test. For Waterford to beat Clare after Clare getting a game the week before – it can either work in both ways for Clare, they can get a kick off the week before against Cork, or they can be tired of coming into that Waterford game. We would be hopeful, but that first game kind of hinges Waterford’s whole championship.”

Walsh has been a teammate of Peter Queally and also played under him as a selector in a side that reached an All Ireland Final. ‘Brick’ is more than confident that Queally will get the best out of the group in the weeks to come.

“The lads have been doing well, there has been little talk about them. They had a tough day out against Carlow, and probably have learned a lot from that. Having Peter at the helm as a Waterford man, it is great, and all the counties have gone back to it. All the top counties have gone back to their own men over others, which is a major, major change.”

“It’s great to see”, he acknowledged – “I suppose unfortunately in Waterford we can be a little bit harder on our own, and we think the people from the outside are better,  but it’s great to have Peter involved, and they are more familiar. We’d be very hopeful of performing well in the Munster Championship, but that first game is key.”

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