When the new provincial format was announced for the 2018 senior hurling championship, some expected resistance was forthcoming.
Aligned with concerns that additional fixtures would dilute the one-off excitement of a Munster or Leinster clash, many hurling fans were left wondering what would occur when a demand for tickets outstripped the capacities of some county's smaller grounds.
With each county guaranteed two home fixtures in the new structure, Waterford's Pauric Mahony is concerned that one of the country's best sides will end up playing four games beyond the county itself:
We don't know what's going to happen with Walsh Park, your guess is as good as mine.
Unfortunately for Waterford, plans to develop Walsh Park are unlikely to be completed in time for the 2018 hurling championship.
With it's current capacity standing at only 11,500, Waterford's two home games against Tipperary and Cork will surely command a level of interest that cannot be satisfied by this limited number.
Facing the prospect of playing all four of their games on the road, the top-scorer of the 2017 championship is keenly aware what Waterford will lose should Walsh Park be deemed unsuitable:
Playing in your own patch is definitely an advantage. We'll see what happens.
For ourselves to get championship matches in our home patch is nice. The atmosphere in Walsh Park will be pretty amazing I'm sure. It will be a special place to be.
If and when Waterford get to play a championship there is uncertain however. One potential venue that is being mooted as a possible host for Waterford's "home" fixtures is Kilkenny's Nowlan Park.
Interestingly, it was Kilkenny's trip to Wexford earlier this year that perhaps summed up the most promising aspect of this structural change.
In what was a sold out Wexford Park, the home county's long-awaited victory over Kilkenny was carried out in a fevered atmosphere that was in no way hampered by empty seats - "The Wexicans are going bonkers".
A scene that many Waterford fans would love to recreate no doubt, it could be some time yet before that is possible. And, as Mahony confirms, that will be a "tough" pill to swallow for the Deise.
