Forward power can make the difference for Clare

TONIGHT it’s a Munster U21 hurling decider with a twist. The heavyweights of Cork and Tipperary are both marked absent ensuring the first final without either of the Old Firm in fifteen years. It promises to be a unique evening in Dungarvan.

Waterford and Clare are convening in a final for the first time since 1994, a decider the Déise triumphed in two years after they had defeat the same opposition at the final stage. But battling against tradition in the U21 hurling grade is nothing new to Clare. Their wait for a first Munster crown has dragged on interminably with last year’s controversial reversal against Tipperary a shattering loss to sustain. Yet Clare have several survivors from that game and will be fiercely driven here.

Waterford have made two changes from their semi-final success, drafting in a new midfield pairing of Shane Walsh and Karl Duggan in place of Sean O’Hare and John Gorman.