Waterford and Clare get Munster Hurling Championship under way.

The day that we have looked forward to since last October is quickly drawing near. The Munster Senior Hurling Championship for 2013 is about to begin.

Every year, when the draws are made on television, there is at least one game that stands out for supporters.

For a number of years, the meeting of Cork and Tipperary, the long time Kingpins of Munster Hurling was the major taking point of the draw. No sooner had the draw’s taken place and supporters would begin to make plans to visit Pairc Ui Chaoimh or Semple Stadium, up to six or seven months of the game taking place.

In more recent times, things have somewhat changed. As factors change, attention began to switch to other counties.

In 2009 when Waterford and Limerick were drawn together, supporters quickly began to talk about the game. The media built it up as Justin McCarthy, the then Limerick manager against his former changes on Suir-Side.

In 2012, the main talking point was the drawing of Clare and Waterford, Davy Fitzgerald the Waterford from the middle of 2008 till the Autumn of 2011 against his native Clare, the side he helped win two All-Ireland Final’s in the 1990’s and was now in charge of.

In the G.A.A. History has a habit of repeating itself. When the draws were made for the 2013 championships in the Autumn of 2012, the teams drawn out to open proceedings were Waterford and Clare.

Waterford are going into this game as the under dog, something that most if not all in Waterford will be glad to see happen.

Not for the for first time, this year Waterford were wrote off. The only difference this year is that the writing off came from the start of the year instead of when Waterford’s interest in this years competitions ended.

Ever before a ball were struck, Waterford were favourite’s to be relegated from Division 1A. Even within the Déise County, people were writing off the team.

Michael Ryan was going to be without a number of players that represented the county well in the past number of years. Without doubt John Mullane was going to be the biggest loss after he announced he was retiring from the inter county scene.

Stephen Molumphy announced that he was going to be on a Tour of Duty with the Army and was going to be missing for a large portion of the year and therefore could not be considered for a place in the team.

Eoin Kelly and Eoin McGrath like John Mullane announced that they were retiring from the Inter County scene. Richie Foley was struggling with injury and Philip Mahony who impressed immensely in 2012 indicated that he would not be available for selection in 2013.

Waterford however, surprised many in the league. They opened with a win over Clare in Ennis. A draw was recorded against Cork in Fraher Field in a game that Waterford could and possibly should have won, but conditions on the day were deplorable and made it very difficult for every player.

Waterford in their third game lost to Kilkenny by five points. On the day, Waterford made a number of mistakes and were punished for them. A wonder score from Kevin Moran secured victory for Waterford against Tipperary at Walsh Park in the penultimate round of games in the league, which placed Waterford in pole position heading into the last round of games.

A draw against Galway at Walsh Park would have secured Waterford a place in the semi finals of the league. Galway went into the game deep in relegation trouble and they made the journey to the south east knowing that nothing other than victory would be good enough for their supporters.

We all know the old saying that you keep your best wine till last, and in the case of Galway, they did keep their best performance till last. On the day Joe Canning hit five points and Davy Glennon also excelled hitting four points to help Galway to a narrow win.

The win for Galway not only knocked Waterford off top spot in the league but out of the semi final placing. Galway as a result of the win not only took them out of the relegation zone but gave them a semi final spot at the expense of Waterford on the head to head rule.

Clare on the other hand went into a game and were expected to do well in the eyes of many.

There was plenty of talk about the young talent coming through in the Banner County, after a few good years in the minor and under 21 grades.

However, the step up from underage hurling to senior hurling is a huge one. Often a good underage hurler does not make the break through at senior level, and there is sometimes the opposite happening where a player that looks average at underage level makes a bit of a name for himself at senior level.

Clare after five rounds of games found themselves in the bottom two of the six team group, even though many expected them to be at the opposite end of the pile.

Surprisingly for some, Cork were the Banner Men’s opponents in the relegation play off final. After seventy minutes the sides could not be separated and after an extra twenty minutes of hurling it was Davy Fitzgerald’s men that came out on top to secure their place in Division 1A of next years league.

Heading into this weekend’s game, both teams have somewhat of a settled look to them. However, both teams have reported injuries going into the game and its fair to say that both Davy Fitzgerald and Michael Ryan will leave it as late as possible to finalise their starting fifteen for Sunday.

The question on the lips of some supporters is what type of game Clare will play. Over the past few years, Davy Fitzgerald has favoured a style of play where he takes players out of his full forward line and place them in their own half of the field, often as extra mid field players or half backs.

This is a style of play that many modern coaches favour, but one which frustrates many supporters.

There is no doubting that within the Clare team there is plenty of ability, but if they were to start withdrawing players from their forward unit, you have to ask, are they lessoning somewhat the treat they can to the opposing defenders.

Waterford has for a long time played their best hurling when they use a quick direct ball into the forward. While Waterford may no longer have players like John Mullane, Dan Shanahan, Ken McGrath, Eoin Kelly and Paul Flynn to choose from in the forward positions, there still is plenty of ability available to the selectors and on any given day, they are likely to cause all sorts of trouble to their opponents.

Clare will more than likely start with Patrick Kelly between the uprights. Domhnall O’Donovan, David McInerney and Seadna Morey are likely to feature in the half back line although there is reports that Morey could miss the game with an injury.

Brendan Bolger, Patrick Donnellan and Patrick O’Connor are most likely to form the half back line.

In the middle of the field, Davy Fitzgerald has a number of options available to him. Colin and Conor Ryan could well start in the middle of the field although Colin Ryan could well be played in attack with Nicky O’Connell starting in the middle of the field.

Tony Kelly will start at centre forward. Fergal Lynch or Colin Ryan could be the main contenders to fill the number ten position while the opposite wing is likely to be a battle between John Conlon and Enda Barrett.

If Enda Barrett get’s the nod to start in the half forward’s, John Conlon will start in the full forward line. Shane O’Donnell has played at full forward a lot for Clare this year and could well start there again this weekend with Padraig Collin’s selected in the other corner.

However, Conor McGrath who has missed a lot of the league with Clare this year could also come into the frame for a starting place on Sunday. If he does, it will be interesting to see who misses out.

For Waterford, Michael Ryan and his selectors have to be congratulated on naming their team early. We all know that teams are picked and named to the players early in the week, and what some managers get out of relaying their team to the public is something that has some asking questions.

The norm had become that managers name their team on a Friday evening or Saturday morning for the public. But by this stage, much of the team is already leaked out.

The selectors have made a host of changes to the side which beat Clare in last years Munster semi final. One player comes in for his first championship outing since 2004 while three players make their championship debuts.

Ian O’Regan has won the battle with Stephen O’Keeffe to wear the number one shirt. The Mount Sion man last played for Waterford in the championship back in 2004 when Waterford lost the All-Ireland semi final against Kilkenny at Croke Park. Interesting, that game was also to be the game where he made his championship debut.

He came into the team earlier this year in the league and did well. He kept the form he showed in the three league games he played up in recent challenge games and also in the club championship with Mount Sion.

Darragh Fives comes in at corner back in place of his brother Shane who picked up an injury recently. The Tourin Club Man is a ready made replacement and will prove to be a tough opponent for whoever will be tasked of marking him in this game.

In the opposite side, Noel Connors comes back into the side to replace Shane Daniels who excelled in the league but who picked up an injury against Offaly recently which rules him out of the game for some time. Liam Lawlor continues at full back and is a player that appears to get better in the position with each game he plays.

Michael Walsh is once more at centre back, while Jamie Nagle who is at his peak right now continues at right half back. With Shane Fives and Stephen Daniels missing from the backs from when Waterford played in the league, a vacancy arises. Padraig Prendergast is selected at number seven but it remains to be seen if he will play there.

In the middle of the field Shane O’Sullivan and Kevin Moran are paired together. However there is suggestions from some that the De La Salle man could well drop back into the half back line with either Darragh Fives or Padraig Prendergast asked to partner Shane O’Sullivan.

Seamus Prendergast has found a new lease of life in the past twelve months or so and there is no surprise that he is named at centre forward. Maurice Shanahan is named at number ten but don’t be surprised if he was asked to move in closer to the Clare goal, while Brian O’Halloran starts on the opposite wing.

With Shane Walsh ruled out with Injury, Pauric Mahony is named at full forward, but there is suggestions that there could well be a switch sometime during the game between him and Maurice Shanahan.

Jamie Barron is named at corner forward and if provided with the right ball he will cause the Clare full back line all sorts of problems while Jake Dillon starts his first championship game at the number fifteen position.

Sunday’s game will be one of two things. It could be a drab physical game often favoured to happen when Davy Fitzgerald is in charge of a team, or it could be a classic where both sides go out and play hurling as it should be.

A physical game would in the past have suited Clare, but with a young team with some very skilful players to choose from would it suit them now. A free flowing game is one that Waterford often favours, and with some fast forwards to choose from if it was to be such a game you would have to favour Michael Ryan’s men.

The head is telling me it will be one kind of game, the heart is hoping with will be another. I know which one I want to see. I expect it to be a close game. Don’t be surprised if the sides will have to do it all over again to see who will play Cork in the semi finals.

Clare as pointed out already will go into the game as the favourites according to the bookies As a Waterford supporter, I hope that they are proved wrong on this occasion.