For the fifth successive year the representatives of Waterford and Clare will come face to face in the AIB Munster club hurling championship. In a sequence of some contrasts, there has been one constant: the unbroken domination of the Clare sides. The most striking contrast has been that whereas Ballygunner have come out of Waterford for four of those five years, their opponents, St Joseph's DooraBarefield, are the first Clare club in that time to have emerged more than once.

One anomaly presented by this is that Ballygunner have become more experienced and should be more cohesive given that the team has changed little, with only three changes since their semifinal defeat by Clarecastle two years ago and four changes since losing to Wolfe Tones a year previously. Yet each year they have come up against a fresh Clare team and lost.

These reverses have happened in different circumstances but the bottom line has never varied. There was in retrospect little discredit in the 1995 hammering administered by Sixmilebridge. This was the first year of a Ballygunner three-in-a-row but their Clare opponents were on the verge of a phenomenal club championship.

Their five-goal haul was the first in a sequence which was to be repeated in both the All-Ireland semi-final and final, following a big but less goal-laden win over Eire Og of Nenagh in the Munster final. Ballygunner were well in contention at halftime but wilted after the break.

A year later, the Munster final of 1996 probably ranked as the big opportunity missed for the club. Wolfe Tones of Shannon were the least powerful of the Clare champions and went into the final with a reputation for having a sound defence, galvanised by the Lohan brothers, Brian and Frank, but a limited attack.

Were the match to be low-scoring and attritional, the Clare side would have been at an advantage whereas a high-scoring encounter would have benefited Ballygunner, whose forwards include well-known county hurlers Paul Flynn and Billy O'Sullivan.

The final turned out to be a festival of goals but it was the Clare champions who came out ahead after an extraordinary match. Less than a minute into the second half, Wolfe Tones led by 12 points, but the remainder of the match saw Ballygunner claw their way back into contention so that by the full-time whistle, the Shannon side were hanging on grimly to a one-point lead.

Flynn had a fabulous second half and ended the match with 24 to his name. A year on, effective marking of Flynn by Ger Canny was one of the keys to Clarecastle's victory at the semi-final stage of the Munster championship.

That third disappointment was quite different to the other two. Ballygunner competed throughout and only a single score - a goaled free by Kenny Ralph - separated the sides at the end.

Last year Ballygunner eventually lost their county title and were briefly succeeded by Mount Sion (who were subsequently thrashed at home by St Joseph's in the Munster semi-final) but 12 months on, they are back. The semi-final win over Cork champions Blackrock was an exciting match and again Flynn was in scoring form with 0-9, including four from play.

Forty-five years after their formation was inspired by Dundalk schoolteacher James McGinn, and 31 years after becoming a senior club, Ballygunner are back for another tilt at that elusive provincial title. Yet again a Clare team blocks the way. Despite suggestions that St Joseph's must be feeling fatigue after winning the All-Ireland last March, the champions are in good form.

If Ballygunner triumph tomorrow, it will have been the longest apprenticeship and hardest-won provincial title ever won.

MEATH (SF v Fermanagh) - C Sullivan; D Callaghan, D Fay, P Shankey; R Kealy, A Moyles, I McManus; N Crawford, T Giles; N McGillick, R McGee, J Devine; D Curtis, G Geraghty, R Fitzsimons.