In terms of an opener for the hurling championship, it could scarcely be more of a blockbuster. Clare, the All-Ireland champions at home to the newly minted league winners Cork, a repeat of the final last July, where more than 80 minutes of hurling ended with just a single point separating the sides.

On Sunday, the newly renamed Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg in Ennis will be rocking well before the 2pm throw-in time for Clare v Cork and it won’t just be the sugar-rush of the fans having gorged on their Easter eggs.

With Cork having romped to a first Allianz Hurling League title in 27 years, they are favourites with the bookmakers for both the Munster and All-Ireland titles.

Part of their portfolio this spring was a six-goal romp in Ennis, a result which put Clare on the brink of relegation that was confirmed a week later. Just as Cork are seen to be riding a wave of momentum, there are question marks as to whether Clare can match the heights of last year, especially when hurler of the year Shane O’Donnell is a long-term injury absentee.

While nobody is getting carried away within the Cork camp, there is a perception – perhaps unfairly – outside of the county that the Rebels’ fans are firmly on the hype train and the Banner faithful will be keen to remind them that nothing will be taken easily.

Just under a year ago, Clare’s 3-26 to 3-24 win over Cork at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh left Cork fighting for their lives in the championship, having already lost their first match to Waterford.

In the view of Cork coach Donal O’Rourke, that they were able to recover and turn things around to the point of reaching the All-Ireland final was down to the belief imparted by manager Pat Ryan. Speaking to Irish Country Living, Donal says, “Pat’s unique,” he says, “he’s a very, very unique man.

“Last year, if I’m honest with you, we were disappointed with the first two games against Waterford and Clare. We had no points but Pat was the only man in the whole set-up who was very calm.

“He was very relaxed amongst the group. He kept saying that four points would get us out of Munster. He was very, very confident if we got to that four-point mark that we were going to get out.

“So to have someone like him to be such a calming influence over the whole group, it rubs off on the players and it rubs off on us as coaches that he has that experience and he has that wisdom. We follow his lead the whole time.”

Given that Ryan helped the county to two All-Ireland U20 titles before taking the senior job – having also guided his club Sarsfields to a pair of county senior championship wins in Cork – it’s hardly surprising that those with him can follow that lead.

A league title has followed, and they came close to ending a wait for the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

Rewatching final

It might sound masochistic but O’Rourke – a native of Waterford who came into contact with Ryan after moving to Cork – didn’t postpone a rewatch of the final. In the clinical view of a coach looking to improve, it simply had to be re-examined.

“I watched it straight off the bat,” he says. “It’s just something I do.

“It’s, ‘How can I get better? How can I make the team better for the next day?’ Win or lose, I have to find the margins on how we’re going to get better and how we’re going to improve. I’d be very, very determined that way.

“Yes, it was tough watching it the first time. It was very, very tough. But it’s something that I have to do.

“My job and my role in Cork is to make the team perform on match day. And I have to find the margins on how we get performing on that day.

“I have great help, there are unbelievable coaches with us and Pat is obviously such a highly intelligent hurling man. You have great people with you.

“I’ve watched it a good few times. I could probably tell you every play inside out now. But we want to banish those ghosts now and we just want to keep progressing and keep getting better and better and better. Look, if you keep knocking on the door, it will eventually open.

“But I think the most important thing for the group of players is that every single training session when we go out, we say, can we be better than the last night? Can we be better then for the weekend?

“So, every Sunday when you recap and you look at the week that has gone by, how have the players gained more knowledge around how we want to play? How has their hurling ability improved in that week? So we’re really putting a layer on top of a layer.

“Of course you want to look ahead, but I think what we do very well is that we maximise the night that we’re together.We’re only together collectively as a group on the hurling pitch three nights a week, so we try and maximise every moment that we’re there for those couple of hours that we’re working on the pitch.”

That modus operandi is serving Cork well so far. And yet.

Since the introduction of the round-robin system in Munster, their two trips to Ennis have ended in defeat. Even more spookily, Cork’s last three league wins before this year – 1981, 1993, 1998 – have been followed by a championship loss to Clare.

Those particular losses spelled the end of the year, of course, whereas whatever happens on Sunday, there will still be a chance for the Rebels to rectify things.

The beauty of it all is that won’t dull the championship edge in the slightest.