He's now in his eighth year as manager, Brian Cody, and once again he has plunged in the fountain of youth and fished out some special talent over which we have swooned.

No less than 13 of last year's swashbuckling under21s have graced the sod at some stage for Kilkenny in the league and the change of style which developed has been subtle but noticeable.

A bulky half-forward line is now sleeker and quicker and Cody will say any evolution has more to do with the players available to him than some sort of knowing nod towards the All Ireland champions.

So far the innovations have worked and the marble men who sleep with a hurley beneath the bed have been resting easier of late. It's a little like the emergence of the crop of '99 all over again.

That year Kilkenny suffered defeat to Cork in the All Ireland final but six days later their under-21s were back, reclaiming the future.

"Victory over Galway in the final was massive for the county, " says Richie Power, manager of that team. "We would have been under a lot of pressure after Kilkenny lost the All Ireland final and there was a sense that we had to get that under-21 title.

In many ways that's what started the ball rolling."

The win was a springboard for those who lined out with Kilkenny that day and soon the names were becoming familiar on the senior set up.

First there was the likes of Shefflin, Hickey and Kavanagh, and later Comerford and Lyng had established themselves. If the county was looking to rebuild at the time then it had just discovered its readymade foundation.

"It's unusual to see seven or eight from an under-21 panel coming in and staking claim to places on the senior team but that's what happened with those players. It didn't surprise me though.

The thing that stood out about them was the honesty and the serious attitude they had."

Theirs was a timely arrival. Cody had just inherited a group of players from Kevin Fennelly and was slowly piecing together a team in his own image. The selection of some of those from that under-21 panel of '99, like Derek Lyng, have epitomised the Cody team of the last few years.

In sharp contrast to the current group of under-21s, the team of '99 had never tasted underage success with Kilkenny before that watershed year. And there's an argument to be made that last season's defeat in the under-21 final could prove as much of a turning point for Kilkenny as their under-21 triumph of seven years previous. If the players of '99 needed the experience of victory, perhaps last year's loss was something that had to be felt as well; that to live through unfamiliar defeat would further stoke the desire to win. That both games were against the same opposition simply adds coincidence.

"We were terribly disappointed after losing [to Galway] but nothing whets the appetite more than losing a game like that, " says current under-21 boss Adrian Finan.

"It's always good to realise you don't have a divine right to win things. The way a lot of those lads are hurling for the seniors this year, they're showing that appetite and if it helps in the long run we'll endure the pain of last year."

Richie Power, who has watched his son hurl on those victorious minor and under21 sides over the last three years, also reckons that defeat at the hands of Galway could lead to greater things in the future.

"Losing any game hurts but it does create desire.

When you're looking for that extra mile to win an All Ireland senior medal that's when desire comes into play.

You can see it in the younger lads this year. A lot of those players will put fierce pressure on the established players as the year goes on."

While Eoin Larkin, Richie Power and John Tennyson have been familiar faces on the senior set-up, the likes of Michael Rice and Michael Fennelly have also made the step up appear easy.

"These young lads have shown potential at underage level and the thing is, when they got the opportunity to make the break onto the senior panel they took it, " adds Power. "They've performed well in the league and like the lads of '99, they'll have a role to play in the next few years. After this year we mightn't be as strong for a while at under-21 level and you'd hope the talent won't stop coming through the underage ranks."

So far it hasn't and for today, at least, thoughts will be elsewhere.