Experience key as Tipperary find way around Waterford roadblock

We’ll start with the context. Nothing occurs in a vacuum.

The Orient Express never carried the baggage attached to a Munster hurling final, particularly when Thurles is the venue. More than any other game in the sporting calendar a Munster hurling final is under pressure even before throw-in to earn its place in the pantheon.

That pressure doesn’t come from external sources — the tennis, the Tour de France, the cricket or the World Cup final every four years. It comes from within the game, a reflexive ranking of quality.