If space demanded, this preview could be condensed quite nicely into six words and a semi-colon.

Wexford are poor; Tipp will win.

As space doesn't demand, permit the Tribune to talk around the topic for a moment and, in particular, to quote . . . ie rip off . . . the perceptive and entirely accurate observation of a certain ghostly Nenaghman who was overheard musing on the afternoon of the Munster final that their trials and tribulations against Limerick hadn't bonded Tipperary together as a team in the way they might have had. Nor had they. But that was prior to Thurles last night week.

Did anyone see it coming?

Precious few. Should anyone have? Even fewer. Yet it's no slight on the lavish quantities of gumption and spirit produced by the winners to speculate whether, far from being a fork in a long and winding road, their display amounted to anything more than an instance of stopped-clock syndrome. Play six matches in a short space of time and you're bound to get the planets fully aligned in one of them.

But credit to Babs and his selectors for digesting a lesson from Limerick's proactive use of their subs. By throwing in John Carroll (right) and Darragh Egan when they did, early in the second half, the management helped keep the pot bubbling and ensured that Tipp had two big lads to make the ball stick in the Cork half of the field. And they're probably better off with the hiatus coming now rather than the weekend before a putative All Ireland semi-final.

The kindest thing that can be said in respect of Wexford's performance, or lack thereof, in the Leinster final is that they held their own at midfield and Stephen Nolan gave Tommy Walsh plenty of it. The most pressing issue for them to mull over in the coming days is this: do they intend to be a ragdoll for the rest of the hurling world ad infinitum?

Wexford are poor; Tipp will win.

Verdict Tipperary