Waterford selector Stephen Frampton says that Sunday’s Munster hurling opener against Tipperary is the biggest game of the year.
The Déise defeated Cork in the league final earlier this month but Frampton says that they are fully focussed on the championship.
"Our eyes are on Easter Sunday and always have been to be quite honest. That's the biggest match of the year for us. Tipperary were beaten by us down in Walsh Park so they're going to come down absolutely gunning for us. The target is on our back now."
They didn’t get carried away by league success. “We've put the cup away now because we've big jobs to do. We celebrated it in our own way. Nobody made a major ordeal of it. We're very proud of ourselves that we've done that. We don't win too much in Waterford so you've got to appreciate it. It's the first medal of any sort for pretty much most of the players in the dressing room. It's a big night for those players and their families. We hope there's going to be a few more nights like that as the year goes on. We just enjoyed the craic in the dressing room. With the nature of the season, there's not much time to celebrate, only pat ourselves on the back, dust ourselves down, work hard and off we go again.”
Waterford ran out ten point winners over the Premier in March but Frampton expects a backlash from Colm Bonnar’s side on Sunday. “Tipperary are a proud hurling county and they’re going to come all guns blazing. They wouldn’t have been happy with their performance the last day in Walsh Park. They’re going to hit us with absolutely everything. We just have to brace ourselves, be ready for it and meet them head on.”
Management looked at 33 players during the league. They were missing key men throughout the campaign but Frampton believes that they can win no matter who takes the field. “You have to believe that. When players are training so hard, you've got to give them their chance. If they're showing a bit of form in training, they'll get their chance with us. That's the way we operate. If they're not, they won't. That's the way it is. We try to be as fair as we can and I think the players understand that. That's probably why you've seen so many players used because everybody is putting their shoulder to the wheel. It's not a fifteen man effort, it's a 36 or 37 man effort and everyone puts pressure on each other. That's what makes the group so strong.”
Listen back to the full interview with Stephen Frampton from WLR's Lár Na Páirce show.
