Gerry O’Connor admits Clare’s dry run at Walsh Park was an early warning of what to expect on Sunday.
Joint Banner bosses O’Connor and Donal Moloney watched their side fall to a 14-point league loss in mid-March at Waterford’s home ground.
Deise veteran Kevin Moran has revealed the “massive boost” it is to his team to have a Munster championship game at the sold-out 11,050 capacity ground for their provincial opener this weekend.
It’s the first game of this magnitude at the venue since 2006.
But O’Connor reveals that the league game did help in preparations for this eagerly-awaited clash in terms of logistics - Clare will be staying overnight in Waterford on Saturday night to prepare this time.
“We travelled down on the morning of the game in Walsh Park in the National League and we definitely knew that that wasn’t the right thing to do,” he explained.
“The only way we can look at it is the championship last year and, whether it was Munster or Leinster, it was very obvious that the home teams definitely seemed to have an advantage and the further you travelled, the more the advantage was with the home team,” he said.
“So it’s a completely new venture for us because, when you’re playing in the Munster Championship, it’s normally Thurles or Limerick or Cork and you can plan logistically very well. You get your timelines right for the morning and the afternoon.
O’Connor added: “It’s a massive boost for them but it also puts massive pressure on a team at home.
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“If you don’t start very well and there is this weight of expectation on you. I remember the Munster under-21 final in 2012 up in Cusack Park and we were expected to put in a huge performance and maybe win easy.
“That was a very unusual place for a Clare team to be in a Munster final, but as the game progressed there was an edginess and a tension in the ground because the crowd went silent.
“They could see we were up a point and down a point. That’s the other side of playing away - if you can get in a good start and get the team under pressure that is playing at home that puts the pressure back on them.”
O’Connor and Moloney guided Clare to the All-Ireland semi-finals last summer.
But they were previously successful with the county’s minors, but O’Connor confesses that Walsh Park has rarely been a happy hunting ground for the Banner.
“We’ve nearly lost all of them there,” he said.
“We were very lucky to beat them in Walsh Park in 2014 in the under-21, we got a late goal. but it is definitely a challenge from a logistical point of view.
“So be it. That is the Munster Championship now. You have your two home games and your two away games.
“Get that first game out of the way and make sure you are absolutely right for your two home games because if you don’t perform and get the results there I don’t think you’re going anywhere in this championship”.
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