Sweeper systems are the Rubik’s Cube of modern game of hurling

Sport needs rivalry, same as egg requires salt and Simon Cowell would not be without Sharon Osbourne.

Hurling is no different. Rivalries sharpen and define an era, bestowing colour and drama beyond mere results, winners and losers. Clare and Tipperary electrified hurling in the 1990s, same as Cork and Wexford in the 1950s. Rivalries make life a dream, lifted and truer and endlessly meaningful.

Next Sunday, Clare and Waterford resume cudgels. The pairing might become a definitive one for the second half of the 2010s. There has been quite a build up to this Munster semi-final, due to 2016’s drawn and replayed league final. These two counties have a lovely bit of previous, not long gone.