The long trip to Belfast lies ahead of the Waterford hurlers tomorrow for round three of the league.
Antrim are yet to register a win after two games, being beaten by Dublin and Kilkenny so far, while Liam Cahill's side have notched one win (Laois) and one draw (Dublin).
Two weeks ago the Deise hammered Laois 7-31 to 0-19 in a facile affair at Walsh Park, while their draw with Dublin was seen by Cahill as a point gained more than a point lost.
While Waterford will have their sights on challenging for a league semi-final or better, Antrim will be hoping to glean as much from the experience of Division 1 hurling as they can. Former Waterford shot-stopper Clinton Hennessy has moved up the ranks in the Safron's backroom team where he was once a goal-keeping coach, but now plies his trade as a selector.
"Look, it's the only way you're gonna get better is playing the top teams; it's hard to pick up points but you're looking for performances and learning things about the players"
Playing those top teams has proved to be a tough experience for Antrim thus far. No points to show from their two games is always going to be a tough pill to swallow - but when the opponents are Kilkenny and Dublin, some solace can be found. While they could be excused for accepting those results and moving on, Hennessy says that they weren't happy with their return.
"We're very disappointed to be honest. I suppose that's where we're at at the moment, we're gone past the stage of moral victories and decent performances. We should have at least two points on the board, if not more - particularly the Dublin game being a home game. Four points in it in the end. We felt we lost it because of individual mistakes and I know Dublin punished us, and top teams will do that, but looking back on the match we made an awful lot of individual errors that would cost us 7, 8, 9 scores.
That's the kind of thing we're trying to work on to take out of our game because whatever hope we have beating top teams if we're making that amount of errors - we're not going to"
Watching Cahill's hurlers trounce Laois a fortnight ago wouldn't have made for easy watching in Belfast. The Deise side ran riot in Walsh Park, with plenty of young talent and new additions mixed through the team as well the return of Tadhg de Búrca to the starting lineup would make for tough video analysis sessions in Corrigan Park.
"A warning is probably the biggest thing. The running and the speed and the pace of that Waterford team that day - and look Laois did kind of throw in the towel. But it just goes to show, if you're not on your game, Waterford and them teams will destroy you. I'm not sure what players are thinking, but for us, it's a warning just to be on our game on Sunday."
