The first step appears to be an acknowledgement of the juddering power and coldeyed remorselessness of the team the underdogs are taking on. Dempsey describes them as being better than any Kilkenny team he ever faced: "Well, maybe not better than the 1992-93 team in skill terms, but more powerful and more clinical." To Conran they're an object lesson in the subordination of the individual to the commonweal: "Big men, huge talent but absolutely no egos, which is what makes them so good." To Fenlon it's their sheer physical presence: "It's the biggest Kilkenny team I've seen. Serious physiques. And where they don't have the size, they're not found wanting for aggression or tenacity." Two words. Tommy Walsh.

Wexford's waterboy at Croke Park five weeks ago, Fenlon had a ringside view of the All Ireland champions in full cry. He was struck most by the degree to which they made life uncomfortable for their opponents, the enemy defenders as well as the forwards. "They're so physical in the challenge, from the forwards right back to the corner-backs. Whether you're an opposition defender or a forward, you're going to earn your clearance or your score. They're always in there, aggressive and slapping. And their teamwork is great. They're always running off the ball for each other."

Watching them against Galway last weekend, Fenlon was visited by another flash of light. More than once he observed Cha Fitzpatrick fastening onto loose ball at midfield. Cha being Cha, Fenlon expected him to take an extra step, make room for himself and laser a computerguided missile low into his forwards. Not a bit of it; instead Fitzpatrick chose to balloon the sliotar up into the air as quickly as he could. "A big skyscraper of a ball for his forwards, knowing that they'd win it or at any rate prevent the Galway backs winning it. The Kilkenny forwards don't mind what way the ball comes in. They'll compete."

That's partly because they're so adaptable, Tom Dempsey adds. Kilkenny teams of his generation had a "certain style of playing", predicated on low ball to nippy forwards. You'd never have seen Adrian Ronan at centre-forward, mar shampla. The current forwards, in contrast, can play in almost any position. "I can't tell you where Brian Cody will start Henry Shefflin today. Fullforward? Centre-forward?

Wing-forward? Even cornerforward? They're very adaptable, they can change their style of play in midstream.

That's what makes them so hard to play against. And they're never complacent because they're playing for their places."

Well, almost never complacent. Ask John Conran about Wexford's win in the 2004 provincial semi-final and he's honest enough to admit that the reigning champions may have been blindsided a little. "Look, we were very lucky at the end.

You don't often catch Kilkenny in injury time. But it's well documented that our lads had got a very good system of play together. We'd beaten Cork and Galway in challenge matches and beaten them well. We were in the zone. We totally believed we were going to beat Kilkenny. We knew we were going to beat them."

That game marked the end of the road for Kilkenny and complacency as travelling companions, Conran believes.

"Brian Cody has stood aloof. When JJ Delaney came off last week, Brian never looked at him. That's his way. That's how he puts down a marker. You might be playing for your county, but you're no better than the last man who played and no better than the next man who'll play. No egos."

It's this modest but terrifying beast that Wexford are attempting to slay today.

How? No high balls into the forwards would be a start, Conran says. "They've got to move like they've never moved before. To be like Terriers. Like Kilkenny themselves in the All Ireland final last year. They're not as big as Kilkenny, they're probably not as good hurlers, but where they can make up for it a bit is in terms of tenaciousness and determination and heart. Build on the Tipperary match but be twice as good."

Avoiding the concession of early goals is a must, Fenlon argues. "With Keith Rossiter and Declan Ruth positioned where they are, I'd like to think Wexford are more settled than they were in the Leinster final. Hopefully they won't concede early goals.

That way they'll be in the hunt at half-time and won't be worried going out for the second half. Then they'll be in a position to push Kilkenny beyond 60 minutes like Galway did. And I know that many Wexford people will be happy to have reached the semi-final, whatever happens today. But reaching the last four isn't good enough."

Finally and most importantly, a plan of some description is essential, according to Dempsey. "Something to close down the Kilkenny forwards early."

He'd like to see Wexford employing an extra half-back.

"That sounds very defensive, but if we're not in the game coming up to half-time we're not going to be in the game after it."

Alternatively, John Meyler and his selectors may choose to pirate the Galway template from eight days ago, siting the half-forward line on top of their own midfield and one of the midfielders . . . if necessary a third midfielder . . . screening Shefflin.

That PJ Ryan will thus be pucking out to an unmarked Noel Hickey is irrelevant; Wexford can't afford to fret about the ground they voluntarily cede down the far end of the field. Damage limitation must be the object of their opening bid today. After that they can worry about winning the later tricks in their own good time.

They'll worry alright. Where hurling is concerned, they always do. This, John Conran muses, is the sport that Wexford people have sold their soul to.

"That's why doing so badly in the Leinster final was souldestroying. It was great to see them turn it around against Tipperary. That took huge determination. Maybe the players know what it's about now. But we don't want to be walking out of Croke Park with our hearts in our boots again today."

A sound gameplan and they shouldn't have to.

RELENTLESS KILKENNY TO RIDE ROUGHSHOD OVER OPPONENTS ALL IRELAND SHC SEMI-FINAL KILKENNY vWEXFORD Croke Park, 2.0 Referee M Haverty (Galway) Live RTE 2

This is not a game that needs an early goal for Wexford. It's a game that needs three early goals for Wexford. Still, at least spectators can be sure of getting more bang for their buck than they did when the sides met here last month. Cork and Waterford are on at four o'clock, after all.

Enough hilarity. General pleasure that John Meyler's patriotism received its reward last weekend has given way to inevitable trepidation at what may be in store for it here.

Wexford rarely suffer accusations of putting in two good performances in succession. But let's assume that, far from expiring on the table as they did after 10 minutes on 1 July, they'll keep plugging away till the bitter . . .potentially very bitter . . . end here.

Motivating them to die for their county is only part of Meyler's task, however. Wexford must do more than hurl merely from the heart. Take the field without a plan and the undertakers will be called in by half-time. Their success last weekend in consistently getting Barry Lambert in behind Alan Byrne offers hope that the Wexford management will have some sort of tactical card to pull from under the table.

Their backs will be required to find the happy medium of wiring into their men while remaining on their feet. Meyler was worried before the Leinster final that his defenders were too nice, the kind of lads you'd bring home to Mammy rather than send out to war against Kilkenny. Brian Hogan proved him right as early as the seventh minute when sallying upfield to land a point; nobody laid a glove on him.

They'd have been scraping him off the ground in small pieces had he tried that lark against the Wexford defence of the early 1990s.

Their Galway test . . . the operative word . . . should bring the champions on by four or five points. Jackie Tyrrell is progressing nicely, Cha Fitzpatrick (right) floats over the ground so economically that he'll surely return in the next life as a butterfly and Derek Lyng's motor is ticking smoothly again.

The sight of runners pouring through from deep to supplement the primary possession won by the halfforwards is evidence of the management's awareness that last September's tactical triumph was a one-off and that evolution was required this season. The penny seems to have dropped too in regard to the depth of talent in the subs.

Got good lads on the bench?

Then exploit the advantage by using them to the fullest.

Although John Tennyson's influence upon being introduced last week has probably been overstated, he's a good deal more comfortable in possession than Hogan, whose striking can be scratchy and who was fortunate to retain his place. Richie Power's claims for advancement were unignorable; it's generally forgotten what a bright National League campaign he enjoyed.

And one scarcely needs to posit the suggestion that Shefflin and Martin Comerford will not be as quiet as they were against Galway.

Will Wexford do themselves proud? Every chance. Does this mean they'll be within a puck of the ball of their opponents at the end? No.

Verdict Kilkenny by seven

KILKENNY PJ Ryan; M Kavanagh, N Hickey, J Tyrrell; T Walsh, B Hogan, JJ Delaney; D Lyng, J Fitzpatrick; R Power, H Shef"in, E Larkin; E Brennan, M Comerford, W O'Dwyer
WEXFORD D Fitzhenry; M Travers, K Rossiter, P Roche; R Kehoe, D Ruth, D Lyng; R McCarthy, D Stamp; E Quigley, M Jordan, D O'Connor; B Lambert, M Jacob, R Jacob