Captains of their own fate

Leinster final countdown: It must be destiny as much as coincidence that the two players who ultimately defined the last championship meeting between Wexford and Kilkenny will play a captain's role in Sunday's Leinster hurling final at Croke Park.

With time running away in last year's semi-final, Wexford's Michael Jacob blocked a clearance from Kilkenny's Peter Barry, and promptly scored the match-winning goal.

Yesterday the two players came face-to-face again along the plot line of I Know What You Did Last Summer and inevitably revisited that moment in time.

Jacob's late goal helped send Wexford on the way to their first Leinster title since 1997, and Barry's failed clearance helped end Kilkenny's run of six consecutive titles.

Both players quietly recalled their roles, but mostly to emphasise that Sunday's sequel was certain to develop along an entirely different plot line. Wexford against Kilkenny in the Leinster championship is rarely predictable.

"I still think that goal was just lucky," said Jacob. "I made the block, and just hit the ball hoping for the best. And it went in. So we did get a bit of luck last year, definitely. I also remember Damien Fitzhenry made a great save on Henry Shefflin.

"But you need that bit of luck to win any game. The year before we'd probably no luck. And in 2002 we'd a lot of chances to win the game, and we still only lost by two points. You have to work hard in these games of course, but you need that bit of luck on your side as well."

Barry could still count on one hand the amount of times his blocked clearances proved so fatal.

"Well that was the problem," he admitted. "I didn't clear the ball. It came in and I was just looking to get it away. Michael had got a few good blocks already during the day, if anyone remembers. So he got his hurl to the ball again, it bounced up nicely, and he buried it. Simple as that."

Neither Jacob nor Barry came across as the kind of player who would hold a grudge. They've met twice since, when Oulart-The-Ballagh played James Stephens in the club championship, and more recently in the league, when Kilkenny beat their Leinster rivals by 30 points. No reason to dwell on the past then.

"I more or less knew straight away we were beaten after that goal," added Barry. "For a split second you wonder do you have time, but of course we didn't. Wexford thoroughly deserved the win, but the main thing was we were still in the championship. It just sent us in a different direction.

"At the time you'd be very disappointed, obviously. But these things always happen. Someone makes a mistake and some team loses. But what Michael did was brilliant. By six or seven that evening I was already looking forward to the next game."

The fact is Wexford can't afford to look back on last year. Their league form was terribly mixed compared to Kilkenny's, and while they did ease past Laois in their semi-final, they also saw for themselves the demolition job Kilkenny did on Offaly.

"We did struggle during the league a little," continued Jacob, "even though we had a lot of injuries. That was a good thing in a way because we had to play lads that we hadn't played before. But we have been a little inconsistent over the last couple of years. Every team is trying to get consistency, and Kilkenny have got that. But we know we've been very poor some days.

"But I think as well that form can go out the window whenever Wexford play Kilkenny. We could be thinking we're not going so well and then turn in a great game, and vice versa. They've always been good games though, and there's been very little between us down through the years.

"But you're always expecting a real charge from Kilkenny. They've been the best team in the country over the past seven or eight years. So you always know what to expect. When they beat us that day in the league they just drove on and on, and have been the form team ever since."

Tactically Wexford did everything right last year, outpacing and frequently outsmarting their Kilkenny opponents, and devising a fresh strategy for Sunday is without doubt the main task facing Wexford manager Séamus Murphy. Yet Jacob has full confidence in his ability to do just that.

"I think 17 or 18 of this panel have played under Séamus before at some level. He knows most of us very well, and also from his involvement with Rathnew.

"He'd be very competitive as well. He's after winning a lot of titles already, and you don't win anything without that competitive streak. He mightn't show it on the sideline as much as Brian Cody, but I think Séamus would be just as competitive."

Wexford centre back Darren Stamp was already ruled out with injury, but forward Nigel Higgins - who come on to score two points against Laois - has had to withdraw from the panel because of work commitments involved in the starting up of a haulage business.