OPINION: This is Limerick's biggest Munster final of last five - Shane Dowling

IT was only Bank Holiday Monday, six days before the big one, and the banter and slagging had already started!

I’m stuck in the Camán Racing Syndicate which was swept up by Anthony Daly's crew on the Irish Examiner hurling podcast.

‘Dalo’, Mark Landers and Limerick's own TJ Ryan! Racing's great oul’ sport, to be fair. Anyway Listowel races was the port of call last Monday and off I went down the road with my dad.

Sun was shining, horse was second favourite, and a great crowd there at the Kerry venue. Excitement was starting to build as we hit for the parade ring. Anyway, without going around in the circles, the horse was nearer last then first!

“Twill like Limerick will be on Sunday, quick to get going, but will fade away,” says Dalo’ afterwards.

Into the bar a few of us went anyway. Pints were flowing. I was the designated driver, so I stuck around for a few hours. Great craic! Slagging at an all time high.

For a finish anyway I had enough. “Hoi Dalo, if ye hurl now as good as ye are talking, ye will go a long way.” Hurling talk, racing talk, general talk, what it’s all about. Slagging is part of it. Stories told. It’s what makes the GAA special.

Anyway, I hit for Limerick just before the last race. “The Dow', bring your ‘A’ game Sunday, kid, cause I’ll be waiting for ya,” was Dalo's parting words to me.

The two of us are on duty Sunday on the Sunday Game on RTE. And I’ve no doubt we will both be waiting for each other!

While we will be waiting for each other in the corner of the TV broadcasting box in the Gaelic Grounds - the main event will take place underneath us!

The hot, sunny weather is supposed to break, I think, and that is probably no harm! Playing a Munster final in that savage heat would be tough going, so hopefully it might calm down a small bit ahead of the weekend.

Tickets are going to be a nightmare. I cannot but feel sorry for the genuine supporters who don’t miss a game and is going to struggle to get their hands on one.

It’s easy to say if you’re a member of a GAA club you will have a better chance of getting a ticket. But there are a lot of people who just support their county, game in and game out. And it's nobody's fault.

Tickets for these games with these rivalries are like gold dust. And it’s not Croke Park. It limited to 44,000 people. Anyway you'd like to think towards the weekend a few tickets may be released.

It’s still hard to gauge where Limerick are at. Conceding 1-30 like they did against Cork last day out is very unlike them. I know they scored high also, but still.

It’s not something we have seen too often. The other conundrum for me is Tony Kelly. He has played so well against Limerick in recent years, in nearly all the games! Most teams man mark him. Tipperary's Cathal Barrett did it in Ennis and he didn’t puck a ball.

Will Limerick change tack and go man marking him, or trust in their system? And by the way, if they do that, who will man mark him? It’s so against what they do, but he has run riot the last few games.

Aaron Gillane will be hoping that Conor Cleary doesn’t make it! Fair play to Cleary, he is tough, tenacious, type of full-back. You'd want your own to do it.

I know there was only a point in it a few weeks ago in the round robin fixture at the TUS Gaelic Grounds. But no two games are the same.

You could argue Waterford had Clare all over the place in the first half before Calum Lyons got sent off. You could say Limerick went seven points up against Cork and had a load of wides.

Maybe Limerick are flying, maybe Clare aren’t as good as some are saying, but I’d say that’s wishful thinking!

They have been super consistent this year, and a few stupid mistakes in Cusack Park cost them from beating Tipp the first day out.

They are so quick as well, all around the field, mixed with a lot of big lads ready for hitting.

I walked out of the Gaelic Grounds last February when we hammered them in the league, thinking Clare’s bubble is burst. It’s far from burst, Lohan had later in the year in mind

The battle on the sidelines are huge also. This is a big one - the biggest Munster final of the last five. Why? Well, I’ll put it to you like this.

Just imagine - Tony Kelly waking up the steps of the Mackey Stand to lift the Mick Mackey Cup in Limerick's back yard?

Flip that over. Picture Declan Hannon walking up those steps for the fifth time in a row lifting that Mick Mackey Cup, and beating Clare in the Munster final!

I’d imagine John Kiely's team talk could be one of few words. Put the first image in your head. And that’s all you'll need to have for 70 minutes on Sunday when things get tough.