John Cleary's Cork and Colm Collins' Clare poised for Munster battle

For all the tweaks to championship structures, Clare against Cork in the Munster opener has the feel of an old-style knockout game out west.

It's must-win territory for the Banner if they want any hope of a return to the All-Ireland quarter-final stage they reached last summer.

While Tipperary-Waterford in the other quarter-final has less riding on it, with the dubious reward of a hammering by Kerry up for grabs, Colm Collins agrees that this Sunday marks the most important Munster match of his 10-year tenure.

"It probably is," says Collins. "There’s no doubt this is an important game, absolutely. We would dearly love... Our first choice would be to play in the Sam Maguire, obviously."

Collins is a self-described "dinosaur" when it comes to the calendar debate, seeing nothing wrong with the old system. Although he’s a "massive fan" of the Tailteann Cup, he'd rather not be in it.

As with his entire reign, he’s adapting to the changed environment of an early April throw-in.

"It’s interesting. From someone who is preparing a team, you are saying, 'God, I would love to have a little more time’, and then from the players' point of view, they are saying ‘it is great, it is fantastic'.

"I have always said if the players like it, that’s it, it can’t be too wrong. We will see how it goes."

Did he consider packing it in after the success of last year?

"The most important thing is the players," says Collins. "What we have done in the past, we have given them the opportunity to have their say on that anonymously.

"The minute that percentage would drop I would be gone because I don’t think you would have any hope of success unless 80/90% of the players are on your side.

"Now, you will never keep everyone happy but it is awfully important. That