Four games - two home & two away - stand between Waterford and a second Munster final appearance in three years.
The 2022 League Champions are one half of the equation that will get the Munster Championship underway with Tipperary coming to Walsh Park for Sunday's 2 pm throw-in. Shortly after proceedings come to an end in Waterford, it's a repeat of the 2021 All-Ireland Final as Cork host Limerick in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Of course, in 2022 the round-robin is back meaning there are more guaranteed games for every county, with the top two set to meet in the provincial decider on June 5th.
Favorites
Depending on who you want to listen to, the Munster Championship and maybe the All-Ireland are going one of two ways; Suirside or back to Shannonside.
For the first time since 2015, the Deise have lifted a national title with the recent league success being Liam Cahill's first silverware in his time as Waterford boss. He's had three bites at the apple since he took charge. The Munster & All-Ireland Finals of 2020 both went the way of John Kiely's Treaty, but earlier this month the Dr. Croke Cup was lifted by Conor Prunty and with it, a marker was laid down for Limerick and any other counties who had aspirations of silverware this year.
It's far too early to mark Waterford as favorites for either title this summer - and most would rather that talk be put on hold, or forgotten about entirely, but success demands more success and Waterford manager Liam Cahill has never hidden his ultimate goal of lifting the Liam McCarthy as Waterford boss. Speaking to WLR Sport last Autumn, Cahill stressed "If our term finishes in Waterford without silverware, to me it will be classified as failure". Cahill has marked off that silverware desire on his bedpost now, but he did go on to say that "We're up there as one of the top three or four teams in the country at the moment and it's like anything, you have to keep knocking on the door to break through".
The favorites tag is a dangerous moniker in Irish sport.
Nobody wants to have the pressure of expectation on their shoulders. Limerick must be licking their lips as they offered a poor league showing and now the whole country is watching Waterford as the team to challenge them, or even beat them. It's the perfect "under the radar" entry for Kiely and Kinnerk, who will undoubtedly have their lads humming ahead of the business end of the season.
Never Count Out Tipp
"A transitional phase" or "a team changing their style of play" etc etc. Tipp are not coming to Munster this year with the weight of expectation, but that will suit them down to the ground.
Colm Bonnar - an adopted Waterford man - will be more than happy coming in the road to Walsh Park with all the attention on his fellow Tipp man. Of course, it's worth remembering that Cahill could have been coming to Waterford this weekend on the Tipp bus if things had played out differently last Autumn. The Ballingarry man said at the time that it would have been very hard to walk away from his group of players, and ultimately, it proved to be a decision that has worked out well for everyone in this part of the country.
Speaking to The42 this week, Bonnar reminded everyone that Waterford have the upper hand here - Tipp will be huge underdogs by the time the ball is thrown in.
"I don’t need to build Waterford up at the moment, the threat is always there with Waterford. They are probably considered the best team in the country, so there’s a target on their back. Also, the fact that we are heading into Walsh Park, it’s a very hostile kind of ground and a difficult ground for most teams. We were only down there five or six weeks ago and beaten by 10 points. So yeah, we know where we are and what we have to do, and obviously, Waterford are on a high at the moment."
Funnily enough, Deise selector Stephen Frampton isn't reading off the same hymn sheet as Bonnar. The Ballygunner man is quick to remind us that form can be fleeting, but history lasts forever and Tipperary carry that mantle every day they line out.
"It's quite unusual for people to be talking about Waterford being ahead of Tipperary and Cork and I do know that Cork, Tipperary & Kilkenny, and those teams don't see it that way, and they will never see it that way. So we've got to strive to be as good as them and to get up to their level so that people start talking about Waterford in the same vein in 10 years' time"
"I think, historically Tipperary teams wouldn't really have been too worried about a Waterford team in the championship. You know, the league is the league, but the championship; that's the real deal. They will come down, and they'll have a certain amount of confidence, because that's the way they will have looked at it, as in 'It was only the league'.
A Different Animal
The bookies have this one picked for Waterford ahead of the off.
4/11 in favour of Cahill's men, while it's 11/4 for Tipp.
That tells you enough really.
While everybody and their mothers can only see a Waterford win, Frampton is quick to cool those jets - with the history books dripping Blue and Gold influencing his argument.
"They're probably seeing the bigger picture. They are the traditionalists; it's the All-Ireland and Munster Championship is what they're looking at. We've just got to bring that intensity and bring it even more because we're going to come up against a different animal on Sunday. It's not going to be as loose as it was during the league. If we can bring our game, we'll certainly be there or thereabouts at the end; it just depends on how quiet we can keep Tipperary."
