Expect the unexpected with Waterford

The week that was so many weeks away not so long ago has finally reared its head. The Munster Senior Hurling Championship is upon us, but it’s fair to say excitement at local level is probably not as fever pitch as yesteryear on this occasion.

Excitement is certainly still palpable ahead of the Déise’s journey on the long long way to Clare from here - but expectations are perhaps lowered, enthusiasm tempered and eyes are cast in an analytical manner toward Cusack Park. Can we only ascertain the mood music once the final hurdle has been negotiated? Probably that.

Clashes with Clare down the years have thrown up more bad days than good, especially the ones in Clare - but like I constantly repeat when it comes to all records, they exist solely to be challenged and altered.

I spoke to Peter Queally a few days ago and while we talked about a lot, there was one thing that he said that has stuck with me above all else. He mentioned that the league has dished out harsh learnings, relegation of course being the harshest of all - but he also drove home the emphasis of how one seismic performance cannot atone for a wider pattern of inconsistency.

A ten out of ten performance followed by two four out of ten performances won’t cut it. Solitarily triumphs don’t redeem recurring failures - Waterford’s round-robin history is the perfect case study. Three eights is the same as two tens and a four, whatever way you want to dress it up.

Such is the competitive nature of Munster hurling now though, it’s only natural to wonder is 8/10 ever going to be enough for Waterford? Do they have to be near perfect and even still hope the opposite number are slightly off colour? It’s a plausible hypothesis.

That said, I actually think Waterford aren’t as far away as people like to pontificate about. On a going day, anything can happen - that’s why we get so frustrated by them, because you can never predict when the going day will come or when the day is going to go south in seconds. That’s the beauty and the horror working in tandem.

Clare have a powerful weapon going into this Sunday - confidence. That’s something Waterford have been devoid of of late in some respects. The Banner cantered to a Division 1B title recently, akin to the Déise twelve months prior. Have they had a real test yet and how will they cope though? Well, we’ll just have to hope that a Waterford side reminiscent of their undoubted capabilities arrive in Ennis to ask that very same question.

The hosts won’t have short memories. They won’t have forgotten what happened on their visit to Walsh Park last year. All-Ireland champions, all eyes on them - and they left later that evening with their tails between their legs and not long after, their summer was in tatters. Revenge will certainly be on their brains, and who would blame them.

Their forwards are as impressive as any side, there is a reason they lifted Liam McCarthy not so long ago - but there are also reasons why last year went so wrong for them. Clare are there to be got at.

One of my criticisms of Waterford in the league is that they didn’t score enough goals or create enough goalscoring opportunities. They will get them on Sunday - and whether they decide to take them or not will be largely determining of whether or not this campaign ignites at the earliest opportunity or whether results must be chased like cup finals at Walsh Park in the weeks to follow.

Looking beyond Ennis, Cork and Tipperary don’t have good records when visiting the Keanes’ Road. Win your home games and you’re through. Easier said than done of course - but an away win to kickstart it all before crossing that bridge? It would be simply seismic. There’s no two ways about it.

And yet, for all the permutations and hypotheticals that have already been dissected to within an inch of their lives, there is something refreshingly simple about what lies ahead. Waterford have an opportunity. A big one. Perhaps bigger than many are willing to concede.

The preview nights will tell you otherwise. They already have. Travel through the province and beyond over the last month or so and you’ll hear the same conversations replayed with minor variations. Waterford written off, their inconsistencies magnified, their round-robin record and recent relegation used as a stick to beat them before a sliotar has even been thrown in.

It’s almost become part of the ritual at this stage. The Déise arrive into championship with little fanfare externally, their chances dismissed before they’ve had the opportunity to define them for themselves.

National pundits have rarely been slow to lean into that narrative either. When Waterford win, it’s often caveated. Ifs and buts quickly follow. The opposition were off colour, conditions played a part, it was a once-off. When they lose, the criticism is absolute.

There’s no grey area, no context, just confirmation of what many had already decided. It’s a cycle that has repeated itself time and again.

But sport, and particularly Munster hurling, has never had much time for neat narratives.

That’s because if there is one thing we have learned about this Waterford team over the past number of years, it’s that they are capable of the unexpected.

The frustration stems from the inability to bottle it, to reproduce it consistently, but the capability is there. It always has been. And in a championship where margins are so fine, where momentum can swing on a single result, that capability is not something to be dismissed lightly.

No one is suggesting that a trip to Ennis suddenly becomes straightforward when framed in that context. History tells its own story there, and it’s not a kind one. But history doesn’t take to the field. Fifteen players do. And if those fifteen can find something approaching their collective best, then why not? Why can’t they be the ones to rip up the script?

It’s sixteen years since Waterford last climbed the steps to lift provincial silverware. In truth, it feels like a distant ambition right now, something parked on the horizon rather than within immediate reach. But journeys have to start somewhere. Foundations have to be laid before anything meaningful can be built.

So maybe this is where it begins. Not with bold declarations or lofty expectations, but with a performance. A result. A shift in tone. Dare to dream might feel like a stretch for some at this juncture, but dare to believe in what’s possible on a given day? That feels a little more attainable.

And if ever there was a team capable of blowing the whole thing wide open when least expected, it might just be this one.