More to the point, their long-term attention is trained on stopping Cork carrying off the McCarthy Cup for the third year in a row.

Make no mistake about that. In 2004, Cork deprived Kilkenny of the three-in-a-row. In 2006, nothing would please Kilkenny more than returning the compliment with interest. There are many teams Kilkenny would like to beat this summer . . . and one team they'd love to beat.

That isn't to suggest they'll take their eye off the ball in today's Leinster final. Kilkenny are enormously assisted by their internal structures and the good underage teams they're continuing to produce. Witness the provincial under-21 encounter in Callan 11 days ago when they demolished Wexford by 3-17 to 1-6. Kilkenny's under-21 edition of 2006 is an inordinately strong one, based as it is on the All Irelandwinning minor team of three years ago.

In his eighth year in the job, Brian Cody is busy overseeing his third separate Kilkenny team. The first of the three was the one he inherited in 1999 and with some tweaking guided to All Ireland success the following year. Their surprise defeat by Galway in the 2001 semi-final led to an abrupt and enforced inter-county farewell for a number of players, including Eamon Kennedy and Denis Byrne, both All Stars in 2000, and to the creation of Cody's second Kilkenny team. This version captured successive National League and All Ireland doubles in 2002-03 . . . some going by any standards . . . before reaching the end of the road against Cork in 2004. The latest rebuilding process commenced last year and is in full spate at the moment.

A number of the aforementioned current under-21s, among them John Tennyson and Cha Fitzpatrick, line out at Croke Park this afternoon. They ought to finish on the winning side, for Kilkenny have better hurlers in the majority of positions and better resources on the subs bench than Wexford have. Yet whether this duo and the other youngsters in and around the Kilkenny team are quite ready for John Allen's Cork is a very different matter. Frankly I remain to be convinced. As of now this looks a year too early for Kilkenny.

Tennyson, who won two All Ireland minor medals at full-back, wears the number six shirt here. He's now the main man in defence.

Replacing the hugely influential Peter Barry is a daunting task but Tennyson can take heart from the sheer quality of the players around him, notably Tommy Walsh, JJ Delaney and the thankfully recovered Noel Hickey.

Most observers at Nowlan Park were resolutely unimpressed by Wexford's 0-9 to 0-8 win against Offaly in the semi-final last month. With ample reason, for while Wexford defended really well, they struggled up front, as they've been doing in recent years. They're notably light and limited in this department, though Stephen Doyle was bright and young PJ Nolan, a county minor last year, caught the eye when introduced. It's good to see these newcomers being tried. Wexford simply have no alternative.

I'm also happy to see Rory McCarthy back in the frame after his winter away. He needed the outing against Offaly. He must kick on today.

Kilkenny will still be wary of Wexford after the 2004 semifinal. As the element of surprise that assisted the winners that day is gone, the underdogs will have to work extra hard and cover every blade of grass for every second of the game.

Wexford haven't always done that lately but they'll have to do so today to hold any chance of survival. Every Wexford player must refuse to lie down. Provided they do so, as their Tipperary counterparts did in Thurles last Sunday, then they'll put it up to the favourites.

The best of luck to the county's footballers, who face Offaly in the Leinster semi-final. Half a century has passed since Wexford reached both provincial finals in the same season; I fancy Paul Bealin's footballers to turn back the clock today. A lot of hard work has gone into this team over the last number of years. Hopefully payoff time beckons.

Good wishes too to the minor hurlers of Carlow, who take on Kilkenny in a unique Leinster final. Their manager Tommy Buggy and his backroom team have done a splendid job. Anyone who's been keeping an eye on colleges hurling in the province won't have been surprised by Carlow's victories over Wexford and Offaly en route to the final. They and the Westmeath senior team are beacons of hope for all hurling counties. With the right attitude and the right personnel, nothing is impossible.

Let's not forget the clash of Waterford and Galway in the qualifiers at Walsh Park. This is a seriously big match, as the winners will top their group and so avoid an All Ireland quarter-final meeting with both the Munster and Leinster champions. As such, it would be a great game for Waterford to win.

Beating last year's All Ireland runnersup would be an immense boost to their confidence, would give them an eminently winnable quarter-final later this month and could potentially open up the path to an appearance at Croke Park in September.

High stakes.

By the way, ignore the various comments in the past week about the current system "giving no advantage" to the Munster and Leinster champions. This simply isn't so, because Cork and today's winners are seeded for the All Ireland quarter-finals, just as . . . to take an obvious parallel . . .

the countries who topped their groups in the World Cup were seeded to meet the runners-up from the other groups in the knockout stages.

Winning their preliminary group in Germany didn't qualify a team to skip the first knockout round and go straight into the World Cup quarter-finals. By the same token, winning the provincial title shouldn't entitle a county to skip the All Ireland quarter-finals and go straight into the semi-finals. That's only logical. Isn't it?