It remains to be seen how it turns out in the end, but the constant speculation about the fitness of Hubert Rigney and Kevin Martin has been a most effective smokescreen obscuring Offaly's preparations for tomorrow's Guinness All-Ireland hurling semi-final against Cork at Croke Park.

It has helped to shift the burden of favouritism from Offaly to Cork to the extent that the Munster champions are the consensus choice to advance to next month's All-Ireland final. Had Offaly been untroubled by injuries after the quarter-final rout of Antrim, there would - according to one argument - have been compelling reasons to support them.

For a start, Croke Park is their home ground. This advantage stretches beyond the benefits of familiarity. Cork's speedy, young forwards had a field day against Clare in the Munster final in Thurles. Against a physically strong defence such as Offaly's, they may find the tighter confines of headquarters claustrophobic.

There is no disguising the impact Rigney's and Martin's loss would have caused to Offaly. The half-back line has been the central platform of the team since the All-Ireland was won in 1994. To have to replace two-thirds of it would have been a disaster for a team with limited reserve strength.

The return of Joe Dooley is further good news for Offaly. The survivor of the last championship meeting between the counties 15 years ago, he has been enjoying an Indian summer and is a proven scorer on big occasions.

They also have the advantage of what appears to be a swelling complacency in Cork, reflected in ticket sales being slower than before the Munster final. Offaly may be All-Ireland champions, but they're obviously not box office in Cork despite the county's failure to reach the All-Ireland series in the last seven years.

So far so good for Offaly. Why then does the pendulum continue to swing against them, even with their half-back line unchanged and outsider status preserved in unlikely circumstances?

One sound reason to favour the younger team is the very question of age or, more accurately, mileage. There have been unmistakable signs that Offaly are struggling after years on the go (11 played in the 1994 final).

In the aftermath of the Leinster final, it was assumed that Offaly had again suffered a failure of motivation. Yet that wasn't the way it looked. Offaly actually played quite well for spells, even if by the end they were a tired and fractured looking team.

This was most alarmingly evident in the defence. As in last year's All-Ireland final, Brian McEvoy gave Brian Whelahan a troubled afternoon until the great wing back was moved up front where he found last year's virtuosity impossible to emulate.

What has been forgotten in the wake of his injury is that Rigney had a poor enough afternoon on John Power and would have had enough to do merely to rediscover his form without having fitness as an additional worry.

It is likely that tomorrow's verdict will be decided between two flawed attacks. Both defences look capable of holding their opponents. Cork's, in particular, has fused nicely into a formidable unit. The less vaunted right side of the defence performed brilliantly against Clare, with both Fergal Ryan and Wayne Sherlock tight and combative.

Beating Clare with Brian Corcoran as out of sorts as he looked under pressure from Niall Gilligan was an achievement, although Cork's management are quick to point out that their talismanic centre back clicked back into gear for the crucial closing 10 minutes.

Diarmuid O'Sullivan has been delivering emphatically at full back and physically dominated his area in the Munster final as well as unleashing enormous clearances.

The question for Offaly is how they can simulate the decisive attacking thrusts of last summer when Whelahan and Joe Errity provided much of the penetration.

Cork's centrefield has been a great success in the context of its experimental genesis. Mobile and high-scoring, the Mark Landers-Mickey O'Connell partnership has stood up to a couple of difficult tests, although Tony Browne's injury weakened Waterford in the area and Clare dominated the sector in the second half up to Ollie Baker's injury.

Although Cork's forwards are pacy and make space for each other with their general movement, there's still a tendency for them to hurl as individuals and this reduction to man-to-man marking is seen in Offaly as greatly assisting the champions' defensive prospects - particularly as Joe Deane primarily and to an extent Sean McGrath are the only proven scoring forwards.

Cork do have some options on the bench and the introduction of Alan Browne and Kevin Murray made a major contribution to steadying the team in the final quarter. Jimmy Barry-Murphy also showed shrewd judgement in the timing of Browne's arrival.

Cork look likely to win because they have established the momentum of a team on the move. Offaly look to be slowing and without the seismic motivations which helped them last year, will find that the power-surge won't come as easily this time around.