Sunday's All-Ireland hurling semi-final will be the Cork hurlers' first match at the redeveloped Croke Park.

Although they had a familiarisation visit over a week ago, the Munster champions are the only semi-finalists who have yet to play a match on the new surface.

This is one area in which underdogs Wexford have an advantage, given that they have played at the venue this year and last.

The playing field is substantially larger than when Cork last hurled in the stadium, three years ago, but it is the technological innovation in the playing surface that will take most getting used to.

Gary Hanniffy and Colm McGuckian captained Offaly and Antrim respectively in the quarter-finals and are divided on the significance of the pitch factor.

"I think it could well have an impact," says McGuckian. "We got a lesson on our first visit (last year's quarter-final against Tipperary) when some of us were wearing melodies (boots with moulded grip) and were slipping. You could see it in the football at the weekend. All one fell had to do was step inside his man for the chance of a score but he slipped at the wrong moment.

"I wore studs against Wexford, six studs. You have to be careful that they're not too long because the ground's too firm and you can hurt your feet. But you can't afford to be worrying about something as small as that. Put an insole in the boot to help protect the foot. You can't afford to be slipping around either."

Hanniffy agrees. "You'd rather have a blister the next day than lose the match."

But in general the Offalyman feels the pitch won't have a major impact on how the match goes.

"It's a very hard surface and your legs are sore after but at the end of the day it's not that different. Once you get out to the ball in front of your man it doesn't matter whether it's a big bounce or a small bounce."

Hanniffy first played on the pitch in last March's club final with Birr and he feels there was a difference between the way the surface played back then and the way it played more recently in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

"We went up a week before the final to have a look at the surface and noticed that the ball skimmed off the surface. For a running forward there is a difference between a ball that hops and runs rather than just bounces. But it's a smashing pitch and it's great to have a stadium like it."

McGuckian feels other factors might be significant.

"It's 2000 since Cork played there and for their younger players playing for the first time in Croke Park ethereal be pressure to perform in front of a huge crowd in the stadium and that might take them a while. But my advice for anyone playing it the first time is to wear the studs. Don't take the chance."