By John Harrington

Austin Gleeson says playing Saturday’s All-Ireland Senior Hurling final replay against Kilkenny in Semple Stadium will feel like a home comfort.

It’ll be the fourth time Waterford have played there this year. They played Tipperary there in the League, and Clare there three times between the drawn and replayed League Final and the Munster semi-final.

“It's like a second home for us at this stage I'd say," said Gleeson. "Kilkenny are Kilkenny and even if we play them in the middle of the road, it's going to be the same kind of thing I suppose. So we just need to bring the fight to them and they'll bring the fight to us and we'll see what happens.”

Gleeson admits that just after the final whistle a draw felt like a defeat because of the manner in which they lost the lead in the closing minutes.

But he also believes Waterford should take positives from the way they reacted to Kilkenny’s late goal.

"In ways it does (feel like a defeat) but in other ways it's Kilkenny. We were given absolutely no hope coming up here and to put in a performance like that and be five points up with 15 minutes to go, the goal was a sucker punch but we kept going and going and going.

"We played well, Kilkenny being Kilkenny, they never gave up. When they got the goal a team of old might have ducked away and left it go but we just going and going and going. At least we didn't lose the game. That's another consolation and we have another go on Saturday night. Keep going now and see what happens.”

Gleeson is taking encouragement from the fact that Waterford competed with Kilkenny physically on Sunday in a way they were unable to when the teams met in the 2015 semi-final. And he’s confident they have plenty left in the tank for Saturday’s replay.

“Yeah I think so, definitely,” said Gleeson. “Last year has been emphasised by the players, it was men against boys but today we set our stall out that we weren't going to be run over. We matched them for what we thought might win us the game and we were very close so we have to go next week and see what happens again.

“We're young, we're fit. The backroom team have us flying so we'll just keep going and going. Rest is going to be key this week. As long as we get in the rest and recovery there's going to be more in the tank.”