The Waterford footballers make the long trip to Leitrim tomorrow for their opening game in this year's Tailteann Cup.
The Deise have achieved success this season, winning in the Munster Championship for the first time since 2010 against Tipperary.
Leitrim won out by 2-17 to 1-5 when the sides met in the National League in January.
Waterford midfielder Dermot Ryan says their ambition is to get out of their group - where they've been pitted against Leitrim, Kildare and Longford.
"You're hoping to get a result, one or two wins, and that'll probably put you through in the group. The top two go through, and then three out of the four best third teams go through. There's definitely an opportunity to get into A preliminary quarter final or quarter final at that stage. Just judging by the group that we're in, I think it's definitely a good group that we're in. There's definitely an opportunity to get one or two of those results."
Ryan has admitted there have been some difficult moments in his Deise career. He says everyone in the squad plays for the love of the game.
"It's not for the glitz or the glamour that you're playing. It's not every year you're going similar to other counties where they're aiming for Munster titles or they're aiming for promotions and stuff the whole time - or they're aiming for All-Irelands and stuff like that. It's different for us. We play it for the love of the game, represent your county and play for as long as you can, because unfortunately the time comes that you won't be able to put your hand up and play.
So just play while you can is what's in my head at the minute."
Leitrim won out by fifteen points last time out, and Ryan says they're an excellent team.
"They're a strong outfit, as we saw at the start of this year. I suppose they're probably three years into their development with Andy Moran. You can see that this year through their promotion and stuff that they've been able to build on over the last couple of years with their footballing ability and keeping the same panel and same backroom team and stuff together. The guys you've played against the last couple of years are the guys we played against at the start of this year."
Throw-in in Ballinamore is at 6.
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