Four counties converge on the home of hurling this Sunday for two very attractive looking contests. And unlike last weekend’s football action, we shouldn’t be in any danger of nodding off. Thankfully, there shouldn’t be any sub-plots as regards championship to any of these games either, because neither of the pairings are scheduled to meet soon after in the summer.

Waterford and Limerick open proceedings and these two could well be a Munster final pairing in July. Both are already in Munster semi-finals in early June too so a league final on the bank holiday in May shouldn’t affect their schedules too much if they advance. They should be going full tilt.

The Déise must be favourites on the back of their form these last 12 months. When they are clicking and able to impose their game on the opposition, they are well nigh unbeatable. Being able to impose their game is the key component here. I have watched Waterford a few times in the past year, including twice this spring, and there isn’t much of a secret to their game. They withdraw players from their forward line, play the sweeper as intelligently as any county, use the ball short whenever it is on, encourage their runners to take any space on offer and they can score from 90 yards with regularity.

Often described as a system, it is quite simply playing to their strengths. There are four players whose games have been adapted to this system and they are the quartet that makes it all happen. In Tadgh De Burca, Austin Gleeson, Colin Dunford and Maurice Shanahan, Waterford have a player theoretically linking every line.

De Burca is a perfect spare man who does his job clinically. Today’s sweeper must follow the ball at times and head for the space on other occasions. He must communicate with his fellow defenders constantly to let them know he is behind them so their only job is not to let their man win the ball, as he will mop up the scraps. He stuck to the script for all of last year and this played a huge role in Waterford’s progress.

It seems these days that every club team is playing a sweeper at the back and now everyone is au fait with the sweeper language. We now have under-12 and under-14 team managers talking about playing the spare man in front of the full-back line or covering the mythical space. Much of that is a load of rubbish if every single defender isn’t doing his job. A sweeper only works in a very tight back line because that’s what ensures there is space in which the free man can revel. Far too many teams have players that go to sleep when there is a sweeper in the vicinity and then two men end up marking one man. Not Waterford. And that’s what has made them so effective – they know their specific jobs and they are good at them.

For now, however, they haven’t yet managed to marry that expert application with a decent scoring return – the kind that beats Kilkenny or Tipp in July, August or September. But they have enough to beat Limerick in April if they are anyway right.

TJ Ryan had a cut at some vultures in his home county after their terrific win over Dublin in Parnell Park. They went to north Dublin and beat a county no one else has been able to do since 2011, so his jug was full that night. I still think he should walk easy, mind you. Letting the keyboard warriors and a few more know that they are in your head doesn’t normally have the effect of making them go away. On 12 June, Limerick face the winners of Cork and Tipp so they need games like Sunday. It will be another one with their Na Piarsaigh crew back and it’s a much-needed big game against a top team. It can only help. A final against the Cats would help even more, but I think the vultures might have a bit more ammunition after Sunday.

Of course, the knives have been out for Brian Cody for weeks now but, incredibly, he manages to survive! Kilkenny should sail merrily on to yet another league final. Remarkably they have won eight under Cody, losing only two (to Dublin in 2011 and Waterford in 2007). Clare can put it up to them and indeed the Cats are probably hoping they do, but the Banner are missing a number of key players and pushed their luck to get away without them against Tipp. I can’t see that luck lasting past 4pm this Sunday.

Whether by accident or design, Kilkenny seem to reserve their best performances at these league junctures for teams that might be considered to be up-and-coming (ie, a future threat to the Cats).

Clare selector Donal Óg Cusack will know all about that; he suffered the brunt of a couple of those heavy beatings. The last of those was in the league final of 2012 when he was part of the much talked-up Cork panel that found themselves 2-6 to 0-1 down after about 10 minutes. That game was over by half-time with the winners 3-11 to 0-6 clear.

Twelve months ago, Clare and Kilkenny played out two excellent league contests a week apart in Nowlan Park, with the home side winning both by a point. On each occasion, the visitors had strong cases for victory and were unlucky to lose to a last-minute point on both days. Both Tony Kelly and Shane O’Donnell terrorised the Cats defence but alas neither will be on show this Sunday, although Kelly will be on the bench.

That muscle memory will be as fresh for Kilkenny as Clare. The Cats will want to put us in our place and that’s what champions do. With TJ and Richie back in harness, they should have enough to win – hopefully after a very decent 70 minutes of championship-level action.

The four teams on show this weekend all have legitimate hopes for the summer and while a win won’t surprise greatly, noble defeat won’t demoralise any of them unduly either. That’s a good combination for supporters heading to Semple, who are advised to get there early.

A hurling double-header in Thurles? That spells super Sunday in GAA language. CL