Clare co-manager Gerry O’Connor admitted last year that they “deliberately targeted our two home league matches against Cork and Tipperary this spring. We wanted to turn Cusack Park into a fortress. We were very vocal in saying that to the media and players, and the players responded and the Clare supporters came out”.

O’Loughlin reckons the lack of a home-away agreement in the old Munster SHC structure ensured the Ennis ground has retained a surprise element.

“It’s an advantage to Clare and the new format now lends itself to more excitement around the counties now that they’re going to every venue.

In these circumstances, it’s new to teams, but Limerick learned a lot from their defeat in Ennis last year, their only defeat in the round-robin, and went onto win the All-Ireland.

“I don’t think it will make a whole pile of difference to Tipp or Cork guys coming to play championship there for the first time. I’m sure they’ve played there at under-age level. Other than the atmosphere being greater, it shouldn’t be a problem for them.

“But it is the atmosphere (that’s challenging) and it’s a small, compact stadium. It creates a good buzz there and Clare play better there most of the time. Down the years, we’ve often got beaten there but I don’t think many teams like coming there. Clare just seem to be comfortable playing there and most counties find it difficult to get something from there.”

Over the years, Clare’s opponents on Sunday, Tipperary, have pulled off some significant wins in Cusack Park, including two acrimonious U21 Munster finals (1999 and 2008), as well as league wins in 1997, 2003 and 2015.

As Liam Sheedy’s side aim for a third consecutive win on Sunday, O’Loughlin knows the importance of the Clare crowd, having seen Waterford’s support fall flat in Walsh Park earlier this month.

“The performance against Waterford, while it was a great win for Clare and we travelled down there thinking it was going to be a dodgy game for us, can’t really be judged yet. I really thought the Waterford crowd would push them on when it had been so long since their last Munster championship game there, but that never happened. Waterford were poor on the day, so it’s very hard to gauge Clare.

Tipperary are definitely the best in Ireland at the moment, anyway, so this will be a good gauge.

“We have a very hard game away to Limerick after that, so Sunday takes on added significance. A draw we would probably take at this stage, because not getting a result would make life very tough having to go to Limerick, and Cork now playing quite well, but that’s the beauty of the championship.”