Stephen Frampton, the captain, recalls the culture shock of meeting non-Munster opponents who played emphatically nonMunster hurling. Shane Ahearne, the acting manager, replays the memory of finding himself alone on the sideline just before the throw-in and being struck by the awful thought that this, despite the presence of 50,856 paying spectators, just might be the loneliest place in the world.

Sean Cullinane, the full-back, still harbours regrets for the possession they had, the chances they wasted, the points from play they should have scored but didn't.

Brian Greene, the Waterford left-half back, has a story too, but we'll get to that in a minute. For the moment, a little contextualisation mightn't go astray, given that the 1998 All Ireland semi-final took place in the age BC (Before Cody) and in a summer the historians have come to regard as Waterford's Year Zero. "Anything we achieved after that was as a result of 1998, " as Greene puts it.

All summer, Gerald McCarthy's side had been pushing out the boat. An appearance in the National League decider, victory over Tipperary in the provincial semi-final, two Munster finals versus Clare. Their defeat of Galway in the All Ireland quarter-final on the last Sunday in July had marked their first championship engagement in Croke Park since the 1963 final: an epoch in anyone's dictionary.

Kilkenny, meanwhile, a definite third in the pecking order in Leinster for the previous couple of years, had won their first provincial title since 1993: an epoch in the Noreside dictionary.

Of the sides that met nine years ago, Waterford continue to call on the services of Tony Browne, Ken McGrath, who wore the number 12 jersey, and Dan Shanahan;

Tom Feeney and Paul Flynn are among the subs today. The Kilkenny XV, in contrast, was a roll call of remembered and halfremembered names. Joe Dermody in goal;

Tom Hickey, whose brother Noel lined out in the minor match beforehand, the right-corner back and captain; Philip Larkin and Peter Barry in the middle of the field; Andy Comerford at centre-forward.

Kevin Fennelly's gameplan was predicated on his defenders clearing the sliotar long and the forwards fighting for their own ball after that, an attritional strategy that called for warriors but was fatally compromised by Fennelly's bizarre insistence on leaving the greatest of them at home on the farm in Callan. John Power's intercounty career would have to wait till the appointment of Fennelly's successor and cousin, Brian Cody, the following autumn for resuscitation.

Take away the colour and the local rivalry and it was a semi-final to forget; the final score was its own commentary on the quality of the fare and on the lack of quality of a profoundly mediocre Kilkenny outfit. Suspended following the fallout from the Munster final replay, Gerald McCarthy sat in the front row of the Cusack Stand, his selectors John Galvin and Greg Fives beside him; Shane Ahearne, who adamantly refused to wear the bainisteoir's bib, was their representative on the sideline and would confer with them every so often.

Their pre-match hope that Micheal White's speed would discomfit Willie O'Connor blew up in their faces when the Glenmore man proceeded to have White on a breakfast blaa. That wasn't all. To Stephen Frampton, inured to the blood and thunder of the Munster championship, Kilkenny's economy of effort was the real eyeopener.

"Munster hurling was more physical, had more solo running. Kilkenny were less spectacular but so efficient, so clinical in their stickwork and scoretaking.

Our lack of experience at that level and in Croke Park told against us. We broke so much ground in 1998, but this was a bridge too far for us."

Now to Brian Greene's story. It begins early in the second half, with Kilkenny leading by 0-7 to 0-5 and DJ Carey standing over a handy-looking free at the Canal End. We'll let Greene take it from there.

"Ever since I was young I had a habit . . .

and fellas used be laughing at me for it . . .

of standing as close as I could to the freetaker and jumping up in the air. Trying to get a tap on the ball. It was something that might happen only once in a hundred times, but I always thought it was worth trying, even if it made me look stupid.

Anyway, I did this huge jump in the air, DJ mishit the ball and sent it low, Niall Moloney got the touch to put it in our net . . . and I was standing there like a big eejit.

If only I hadn't jumped, I might have been able to stop the free."

He wasn't, Carey and Brian McEvoy promptly tacked on a point apiece to stretch the lead to seven and that, to all intents and purposes, was that. The bird with the black and amber plumage had flown; Waterford, less versed in the hairpins and switchbacks of big-day rides at Croke Park, woke up too late. They had the deficit back to the minimum (1-11 to 1-10) and Pat O'Neill was coming out with the ball in his raised paw after facing down their last attack when Pat O'Connor sounded the final whistle.

Heaven would have to wait. It still is.

Waterford have contested three All Ireland semi-finals in the meantime yet have never come closer to reaching the final.

Not that any of the men of '98 have given up hope. As a veteran of the sector, Sean Cullinane was delighted with how well the full-back line hurled a fortnight ago in the semi-final and has no fears for them playing from the front today. Shane Ahearne believes that the team's two recent "championship-type matches" against Tipp and Cork hand them some sort of edge over a less tested Kilkenny.

Stephen Frampton took enormous heart from the manner of their win against Cork, from the "poise and the patience and the guile they showed to nudge ahead when they did. That was what was so impressive and so satisfying. They've been there so often on the big occasion in Thurles and Croke Park. They know the ropes so much better than we did in 1998.

There's no reason for Waterford to be overawed any more."

And Brian Greene? Disenchanted with Justin McCarthy, he departed the panel after the 2003 championship and doesn't feel comfortable going to matches any more, but he's been impressed from afar with the Waterford of 2007 nonetheless.

"They've filled a few gaps. A year or two ago I thought they might be petering out, but they've staged a very good resurgence and have more guns than we had back in the day. The young lads who were there in my day, the Eoin Murphys, are men now and there's a more solid feel to the team."

Just as long as none of them jumps up in front of a Kilkenny free.