Here on this piece of land, young lads walk through school hallways, chattering away proudly about nights out and goals scored in a language lost and found. Outside in the open, the crossbars are refreshingly low. Inside, every locker is opened to a smell of ash. A slice of the country laid down and flourishing.

But there's more to Colaiste Eoin this week than the geographical anomalies of Irish and hurling. There are seven belonging to the school that are set to line out with Dublin Colleges tomorrow against St Flannan's of Ennis in the All Ireland final. Less than a year ago Aindriu O Hobicin, Shane O Ruairc, Sean O Seanain, Donal Ceitinn, Jack O Giollagain and Joe O Meachair lined out on a Dublin minor side that gave city hurling hope when they stopped the Leinster crown being wrenched away from Croke Park. Cian Mac Giolla Bhride is likely to join the set up this year. An iceberg afloat in tropical waters.

Each of them talks about tomorrow meaning a lot and being a great opportunity, the here and the now, all unaware of the past failures of what they are involved in. According to O Meachair, "It's good to have that release from the upcoming Leaving Cert, it can be like an escape. People might see it as an extra burden but it can work as quite the opposite. For example, we'd have training some nights and before we could go to that we'd be up to our necks in study. The pressure can get to you but the hurling helps you forget about the Leaving for the rest of the evening. It keeps you sane."

It is how they have all dealt with it, cramming too much into too little time but upstairs in a staff room, Colm Mac Sealaigh can remember when there wasn't a release this late in the year. Hurling was for a few weeks before the inevitable exit. Born and rared in Churchtown, Colm Mac Sealaigh is over 30 years here and was the manager of the Dublin Colleges from 1994 to 2002. "It started off slowly here in Colaiste Eoin but the numbers grew and we gradually got more and more competitive. And being an all-Irish school there is a fierce interest in GAA among most parents and they would maybe choose Colaiste Eoin for language but also for the games.

Particularly in the last 10 years anyway with the success we've had."

With the school things never blossomed overnight.

The seeds were planted and long after they were forgotten the occasional flower wilted above ground. From the C grade they clambered and climbed, reaching the peak of schools hurling by 1989. "The A was a big jump at first because we were depending on a few good players and the rest would be just doing their best and so on. But I do remember one of the first A games which was under-16 when we were playing St Joseph's of Fairview. They were one of the strong schools at that time and they gave us an awful hammering and we were kind of saying we weren't ready for this. We weren't sure if it was too much for the level we were playing at but sure we kept going and finally won a match."

Thereafter, that became the problem. Good enough to win but never good enough to succeed, the idea behind Dublin Colleges was born. Tom O'Donnell was the first to suggest such a side. He spoke with Mac Sealaigh about coming on board. Cyril Duggan, who was the first full-time coach employed by the Dublin county board was there at the beginning too. All that stood in the way was permission to play and in 1993 that was granted in principle by the Leinster colleges.

"This was all before there were Dublin development squads or anything like that, you have to understand" says Mac Sealaigh. "It was a first time that a squad team before minor was brought together in Dublin and for here it was a new concept. Maybe because of that but for other reasons too, it was difficult to get it together and it still is because basically you are working on it at the weekends, maybe except September and now when you have the longer evenings. And then there were occasions, like once 24 schools were represented on the panel. So the logistics were always difficult.

"But I suppose things started to pay dividends around 2001. We had been in the two previous finals in Leinster and a league final. It was our fourth final so it never came out of the blue, there had been a bit of momentum leading into that year. But myself and the other people were learning and working out how to get the team ready. Back in the early days we didn't really know what to expect. But we learned and 2001 was the best until now. We won the Leinster but we were very disappointed to lose the All Ireland semi-final, we could and should have won it. Two goals in the last five or six minutes, an awful day, dreadful weather. So I think there was an All Ireland in that team. We didn't get a bit of luck at all.

"And personally it was an anticlimax. I found it very difficult to get the momentum going again the following season. We were complacent, and easy going and we didn't do that well. That was it. I felt I had given enough and someone else might bring in freshness and as well as that the development squads were well up and running and there was a lot of overlap."

There's still that regret of no All Ireland and he can never be sure how much any of it has done for Dublin senior hurling either. He's seen so many pass through his hands that could have made it. Some switched to football, others just grew tired of it. These lads now? Huge potential but one step at a time. "It was never about success at the beginning. The idea of a Dublin Colleges side was never really to win championships. Sure, we wanted to and that was the target and the aim but the real emphasis was putting Dublin fellas in the situation of playing against Kilkenny's best and that sort of thing.

"But it would mean an awful lot to the people involved and to the likes of myself and the people that would have trained teams over the years if they won an All Ireland. It would mean a lot in terms of justification. And of course it would be a boost for those involved."

Nobody expects it, but just take a look around.