It is generally accepted that the Dublin team which faces Kilkenny in tomorrow's Leinster hurling championship first round is a superior force to the one which ran out of steam in the closing minutes of last year's semi-final against the same opposition.

The inclusion of some lively new forwards is part of the reason for optimism but the presence of the man regarded in many quarters as the most accomplished hurler on the team is another indisputable improvement.

Liam Walsh broke his arm just before last year's championship. He missed out on the Kilkenny match and also the National League quarter-final against Tipperary the following month. By then, the hard work of securing promotion and a play-off spot had been done in Michael O'Grady's first year as manager.

Another factor in the county's improvement has been the enhanced competitiveness of life in Division One. Walsh confirms that the step-up was noticeable but also alludes to the quality of the teams played.

"Two or three matches (in Division Two) were hard but the rest we were expected to win. We played and beat Cork and Waterford, who were in this year's League final, but there was definitely a difference this year.

"With the new system of six teams (in a group), you're under pressure for every match because you have to win a couple. Some teams let on that they take it easy in the League but it's a big thing for us to play all the top teams."

Michael O'Grady's arrival has been the catalyst for an improvement in Dublin's fortunes. A respected and widely-travelled hurling coach, he settled in the capital and accepted enthusiastically the offer from the county board to take over the Dublin seniors.

"He has a great knowledge of the game," says Walsh, "and has been around and involved with a number of counties. When he arrived he brought a professionalism to the set-up - no messing - and discipline. The numbers are always there for training.

"He's given a plan and pattern to our game. We've been told to do certain things, nothing major but just to do the right thing even under pressure, hit the ball first time and get it to someone."

Although only 24, Walsh has been involved at senior championship level since 1992 when as a frail teenager he played in the forwards against Wexford. In the meantime he has filled out and presents a sturdy figure on what is the team's best line, the halfbacks.

"I've been mostly on the wing, sometimes at centre back. I play where I'm picked. They're very different positions. At centre

back, you read the game and at wing-back, you're marking manto-man. At the end of the day, you go out to play and what happens, happens. The worst feeling is if you know in your heart and soul that you didn't go for certain balls that you should have."

His inter-county career proceeded on two tracks for a couple of years and he was highly rated by Pat O'Neill who led Dublin to the 1995 football All-Ireland. A year previously, however, Walsh left the panel in which he had provided cover for the full-back line (a very valuable commodity nowadays) and appeared as a substitute in an All-Ireland semi-final against Leitrim.

"I was there for a year but then I gave it up. You need a really good compromise between the football and hurling managers if players are going to play both. Anyway training is nearly professional now so it's harder and harder for players.

"I wouldn't be a skilful footballer but I played full back, corner back and on the wing and was involved with good under-age teams in Thomas Davis. But hurling was always the game; I was always messing around on the road with a hurley. I prefer to play hurling even if I might have won things in football. It's great to win but better to be happy."

He is, however, hopeful that the two experiences mightn't continue to be mutually exclusive. Michael O'Grady went on the record last year as saying that Dublin will win an All-Ireland within eight years, such is the quality of the feeder systems being established.

"The future is bright for Dublin," says Walsh. "At last there is a good under-age structure in place with full-time coaches in the county. You won't see young lads coming straight through but in the coming years, I guarantee you will."