Believe." Which sounds all very well now, McGrath agrees, but what kind of eejits would they have looked had they been beaten in the first round?

Thing is, that was the whole point of the exercise.

To believe. To believe that the maroon and yellow could go where only one Waterford team . . . Mount Sion in 1953 . . .

had gone before. To believe that '07 would be the year for the alma mater of Liam Griffin and Shane Ahearne and Fergal Hartley and Paul Flynn and John O'Shea, if only because it had to be.

With so many players right on the age, with their centre-forward Tommy Connors back in jig-time from a cruciate injury, here was a tide to be taken at its flood. "I don't think we could have put the same energy in again if we hadn't won the Harty this year, " Dooley reflects.

As it happened, they nearly unseated at the secondlast fence. After defeating Ard Scoil Ris, Glanmire Community School, St Colman's and Charleville CBS in their early outings, De La Salle travelled up to Kilkenny for a challenge match in which they proceeded to blitz St Kieran's. It was their best performance all season, but one that brought its own hangover. Next time out, in the Harty Cup semi-final, they lost their way completely against Thurles CBS and needed two lucky goals plus a last-minute point from an Adam Brophy free to scrape through by 3-7 to 0-15. That was the moment they allowed themselves to muse that their name just might be on the cup.

It finally was when they saw off St Flannan's by 2-7 to 0-11 in a Cashel monsoon on 11 March. Happiness unbounded, joy unconfined.

One past pupil, a certain John Mullane, jumped the fence and ran onto the pitch to celebrate. The school bursar Brother Tim, veteran of many an unsuccessful Harty Cup campaign, was heard to seek reassurance about his eyesight later that evening. "Did we really win it?" he asked a fellow brother. Affirmative.

Since then it's been jam all the way. The Park Hotel Waterford Sports Star of the Month award. A civic reception hosted by the lord mayor Cha O'Neill, at which each member of the panel and management received a Waterford Crystal clock. The All Ireland semi-final victory after extra-time against a physically-bigger Castlecomer CS on a cold and gloomy Thursday evening in New Ross. A day in Mecca today. A new world conquered every week.

Theirs is the most unusual of set-ups. There are no fewer than 40 players on the panel, with six different Waterford clubs represented on a starting XV that includes three Kilkenny lads. They possess not one but two captains in David O'Sullivan, the centreback and a son of the wellknown surgeon Tadhg O'Sullivan, and Craig Moloney, the full-forward; one voice in defence, another voice up front. One of the subs, Shane Flood, goes up for the toss before every match. Chris Morrissey from third year is the waterboy. Fr Paul Murphy, the school chaplain, is the first-aid man.

"Everybody has a role because we felt we couldn't and shouldn't turn anyone away, " Dooley, a native of Coolderry in Offaly, explains.

"And watching the development of some of the subs nowhere near the starting 15 has been extremely rewarding."

When they trained at 10am on St Stephen's Day, 34 players showed. When the pitches were too wet for use in February, they played soccer on Astroturf instead. They've surfed in Tramore. They spent the weekend of 8 December in Cushendall, staying at the De La Salle order's house nearby and playing the Antrim under21s on the Saturday before paying a courtesy call to Sambo McNaughton that evening. They've had state visits from Dooley's cousin Brian Whelahan, who spoke of his own experiences winning an All Ireland colleges' medal, and Brian Cody, who emphasised the importance of getting their hands dirty doing the basics of hooking and blocking.

They also have a prayer they say during their prematch huddle. "Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God. Saint John Baptist de la Salle, pray for us! Live, Jesus, in our hearts forever!" The first time they tried it, some predictable teenage giggling ensued.

Since then, as Dooley puts it, "they've gone from sceptics to true believers". At this rate of going, one of them will probably end up Pope some day.

Much talk has surrounded De La Salle's reliance, or overreliance, on Stephen Power, who hit all of their 27 in the Harty Cup final.

McGrath, a past pupil of the school and former semi-finalist in the competition, is quick to refute the consensus. "People outside probably think we are overdependent on Stephen, probably reckon we're not scoring enough from play. But the important thing is that the other lads have been carrying the ball into the danger area and winning frees. If you're winning frees, you must be winning ball and creating chances.

Stephen is a very important player for us but he's not the whole team."

Of rather more concern for them today is the imperative to embrace the occasion. In this regard the two managers know what they're talking about. Dooley played in Croke Park as an Offaly minor. Once.

For his part a 15-year-old McGrath lined out in the 1992 All Ireland minor final, finished on the losing side against Galway but took consolation from the assumption that he'd be back every year.

In the event he's been back there only once before today, as a sub in the 1998 All Ireland quarter-final. For the vast majority of the De La Salle team, this will be their first and last day to hurl in the holy of holies. Carpe diem, pueri.

It would have been a far quieter year in De La Salle without them. "The hurlers and their success have given a great lift to the whole school, " says Brother Damien Kellegher, the principal. "The year has flown." Irrespective of what transpires this afternoon, McGrath adds, the players have done everything asked of them and plenty more besides. "We won the Harty Cup, which people in De La Salle have been trying to do for years. We showed that wasn't a flash in the pan by beating the Leinster champions. The memory of what we've achieved will live forever in the school."

One last step today. All Ireland '07. Believe.