Brian Cody predicts that Clare will be "difficult to dislodge" as All-Ireland hurling champions.

Davy Fitzgerald's Banner County succeeded Cody's Cats as Liam MacCarthy Cup winners in 2013 and the Black & Amber boss expects the holders to mount a strong defence of their crown this summer:

"Clare are obviously deserving All-Ireland champions and excellent All-Ireland champions and the way it works now is it's the new year now so it's up for grabs again," he told The Irish Examiner.

"They're in pole position, they're going to be very, very difficult to dislodge from that. But we're not thinking about All-Ireland finals right now, we're thinking about the Walsh Cup."

On February 16th, the Noresiders will open their national league programme against the All-Ireland champions in Ennis.

"It will be an interesting one," adds Cody. "Obviously we're going down to the home of the All-Ireland champions. We'll respect the fact that they're All-Ireland champions.

"It's impossible to say how the game will go and everything else because it's the first game for both teams. But it's going to be a good start to the league for sure." Tweet

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