The Waterford hurlers will make the short trip to Nowlan Park for Sunday's National League clash with Kilkenny.
Waterford haven't won silverware in seven years and former Déise boss Michael Ryan says that Liam Cahill's side should target this competition. "Winning is a good habit. It's a national title at the end of the day and there's only two national titles at stake. If you add in the Munster championship, there's only three cups to be played for. We haven't won anything since the league in 2015 so we need to go and win something and I think Liam will be out to win it."
Waterford are almost guaranteed a place in the semi finals due to their healthy score difference while Kilkenny need a win to reach the last four.
Liam Cahill has looked at 30 players in four games. Ryan sees this as another opportunity to explore options ahead of the championship. "It will be very interesting to see what team Liam puts out. He's virtually certain to play in the semi finals. Kilkenny need to win and we all know what they'll bring to the plate. There's no such thing as a challenge game with Kilkenny. They have a proven record in the league over the years and they'll want to go out and win this game and qualify for the semi finals. I believe Liam has a few injuries and he might try to have a last gasp look at a few fellas and give a few fellas a chance to cement their place. He has built a really strong panel over the last couple of years and they look now as if they have 22 or 23 fellas who are capable of stepping up to the plate. I would suspect that if wants to find out exactly where a few fellas stand, he may throw them into the equation for this game."
He says that Brian Cody will go all guns blazing on Sunday. "There's no half measures with Brian Cody. He is out to win every single game, he is a ferocious competitor. There seems to be a lot of life left in the old dog yet!"
Listen back to the full interview with Michael Ryan from Friday's Lár Na Páirce.
