CLARE FORWARD John Conlon believes having Davy Fitzgerald on their sideline offers a definite advantage going into their Munster hurling semi-final against Waterford – and in more ways than one. Fitzgerald is back in his native Clare having spent the last four seasons managing Waterford, and that’s the sort of additional insight Conlon believes could make the difference in Thurles on Sunday.

“He’d know Waterford inside out,” says Conlon, “but Davy being Davy, he’s so professional, I’m sure he has an insight into every team we go out against. There are different things about different teams. But it comes down to the day of the game, what team is better, more in tune to the game.

“And it has been excellent to have Davy working with us. He loves the game of hurling. Everything is built around hurling. He’s really instilled a professional set-up for us. That’s what you want. You want a set-up you can look forward to and you love going into training. As a panel we love going into training.”

Winning is important too and that’s what Conlon is aiming for on Sunday: “I’ve been on the panel four years, and we haven’t won a championship game. It’s about time we got away from this thing of everyone saying we’re a young team, a coming team, it’s time we started looking to the future and building on our potential.”