Waterford's Walsh Park is to undergo redevelopment works very shortly, having seen delays through COVID and increased building costs.
As well as the construction of a roof on the main stand, the capacity is expected to increase to around 12,000 with the addition of a new uncovered stand.
With luck, all should be completed and ready for the launch of the Championship in mid-April.
As reported by RTÉ Sport, Waterford Hurling star Austin Gleeson is hoping that Walsh Park can act as a catalyst for future success.
"Once Walsh Park is developed it will help a lot. It won't be a massive ground compared to some counties but it'll be our own little ground, and we'll just have to turn it into a cauldron, as much as we possibly can," he said.
He added: "In future years you could extend the stand (further) but at the end of the day it's just about getting that first phase over and done with.
"Once that's done you can think about the next plans."
When you analyse the job that Davy Fitzgerald has ahead of him, it makes for some remarkable reading.
Since the inception of the Munster Hurling round-robin, the Déise have been on the losing side in the vast majority of their outings.
In total, Waterford have played 12 fixtures, winning a solitary outing against an injury-stricken Tipperary in Walsh park this Summer.
Even more astonishing, when considering the wealth of talent available, the Munster men have not left the province on three separate attempts.
Gleeson added: "It's a bit of a mad one, I really don't know why it's like that.
"It's something we've tried to figure out the last few years.
"We thought we were in a good place coming into the championship and got caught in Munster and we were eliminated before we got to play out of the preliminaries.
"No one knows the answer. We've won one game, drew one, and lost 10. It's not good enough really. We see ourselves as a good team that can compete, on our day, with every team."
Gleeson and this group of wonderfully talented hurlers will be hoping for a far more productive campaign in a larger Walsh Park next Summer.
