This weekend is history in the making, albeit not written in a grand copperplate hand to be admired for decades to come. Tomorrow's Guinness All-Ireland hurling semi-final is about detail, footnotes and minutiae.

Most people will be aware that Kilkenny are closing in on one of posterity's greatest accolades, a three-in-a-row not achieved by anyone for 26 years and not part of Kilkenny's roll of honour for nearly a century.

Equally, it is well known that Waterford haven't been to Croke Park in September since 1963 and have to go back another four years for the county's last All-Ireland success.

So this match will signal an end to either Kilkenny's pursuit of the Holy Grail, maybe for another generation, or the quest of the current Waterford team to record a rarer, but just as ardently desired, triumph.

Teams and their managements are uncomfortable with big-picture concerns. Kilkenny's Brian Cody was very edgy about the debate as to whether his 2000 All-Ireland winning full-forward line was the best ever, a national contemplation that flourished in the months before Galway eliminated them from the championship at this stage three years ago.

In the quotidian search for flow and form and full fitness, the next match is as far as the horizon stretches. It's a cliché but, like most clichés, it's on the money.

But the search for portents sweeps in both directions. Just as Kilkenny aren't going to answer questions about the three-in-a-row, Waterford aren't going to speculate on the potential passing of the current team.

In the aftermath of last season's defeat to Wexford in the qualifiers, Waterford manager Justin McCarthy was exasperated by questions about the team's hunger for further success after the 2002 Munster title.

"You can talk all day about hunger, but you need things to go with it," he said. "We were as hungry as anyone and maybe if we'd got a goal we'd have seen that hunger."

This year he has been so far vindicated. Waterford have an extra edge to go with their hunger and a second Munster title has been won in the most convincing manner possible: one awesome, juggernaut sweep, one scratchy steal, perpetrated when the match looked lost and one heroically defiant stand while down to 14 men.

"Obviously the biggest improvement is in their finishing," according to Fergal Hartley, captain two years ago and now retired. "We had a reputation of being good starters and bad finishers and that's been put to rest."

How was this transformation achieved? For a start there has been a surprisingly high rate of turnover in the playing stock and each transfusion of new blood has been high quality.

The prototype side that Gerald McCarthy led to an All-Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny six years ago will have only four survivors in tomorrow's starting line-up. Even since 2002 there have been four changes.

Then there's been the change of management. McCarthy has been joined by three new backroom personnel, physical coach Gerry Fitzpatrick and selectors Kevin Ryan and Nicky Cashin.

Fitzpatrick's appointment has been credited with giving the side more staying power, which has contributed to the winning of close matches.

Two years ago players grumbled that they weren't doing as much physical work under McCarthy as they had under his predecessor. But the new manager during a lengthy career as player and coach had always upheld the primacy of stick work.

"Justin is of the view that hurling will solve everything," according to one observer. "But matters moved on when Loughnane moved preparation into the gym."

Nonetheless, Waterford won their first Munster in 39 years and the grumbling subsided. A disappointing performance and defeat against Clare in the All-Ireland semi-final followed and revisionist theory held that the lack of intense physical preparation had told against them.

When Fitzpatrick was recruited for this season that was the context. A noted basketball trainer, he was, however, no stranger to Waterford hurling. He had been involved with WIT and had trained the county team before, when asked to get involved by then manager Tony Mansfield.

"In 1995, we were given the specific remit of getting out of Division Two and we achieved that," recalls Mansfield. "But in the championship the wheels came off the wagon and Tipp blew us away physically - not their fault, just we weren't right because we hadn't concentrated on physical work.

"The following year I had heard about Gerry Fitzpatrick through his work in WIT so I went and had a chat with him for half an hour. He was very nice, knew hurling and was interested. He gets on well with players and has a knowledge of sports psychology so he knows how to handle them.

"Another good thing about him is that he concentrates on his own area and doesn't step outside that remit. Sometimes a manager can appoint some fella to help out with the first aid and they end up thinking they're a selector. Gerry Fitzpatrick did what we needed him to do."

His expertise extended to several areas and he helped one player get to grips with an asthma problem by advising on diet, nutrition and lifestyle. The scale of the work was visible in the 1996 championship. Having been defeated by 21 points by Tipperary the previous year, Waterford recovered to lose by only a score in the Munster championship.

"That year against Tipperary," says Mansfield, "I remember the ball was hardly thrown in when Stephen Frampton came out and hit Declan Ryan a jostling blow that knocked him up in the air. We were able to match them physically."

Cashin and Ryan joined McCarthy and Séamie Hannon as selectors. Ryan represents county champions Mount Sion and provides a voice for the city whereas Cashin is famous for his work in Kilkenny's renowned hurling nursery St Kieran's.

Eight of the 15 that started against Clare last weekend have been coached by Cashin in their schooldays.

Only two years ago he managed Kilkenny's minors to the All-Ireland and was being spoken of as the logical successor to Brian Cody should the senior manager's position become vacant. His appointment in his own county is taken as evidence that any management ambitions will be fulfilled closer to home.

The on-field results have been impressive. From the start of the year it was speculated that Ken McGrath, whose massive but not quite fulfilled talent hadn't been accommodated to the optimum, would be the new centre back.

Injury kept the move on ice for most of the league. By the time he returned for the closing stages, McGrath was being given tentative runs at wing back. The brilliance of his championship performances accordingly had the added element of surprise.

The switch had a number of advantages. It filled a pivotal position, which had fallen vacant with the retirement of Hartley. It also deployed McGrath's great strengths of ball winning and majestic striking without burdening him with the responsibility for scoring and it guaranteed him a central location in the thick of the action without disrupting the team.

In the past, the need to kick start McGrath's game led to players being moved, sometimes when they were going well.

"It's worked out well for him," according to Tipperary captain Tommy Dunne, who himself briefly made the same move. "He's the sort of class player who would be able to make that particular move. He's able to read play and cover off spaces because he's more in his legs than Fergal Hartley had, which helps back-line play in general.

"The emergence of new forwards has aided them in making the change. A couple of years ago they wouldn't have dreamed of moving him out of the attack."

Other players, Eoin Kelly, David Bennett and Séamus Prendergast, have discovered better form, Paul Flynn has submitted his individuality to the collective need while Dan Shanahan has surpassed all previous benchmarks to place himself in the running for hurler of the year.

There have been other changes to the waythe team have approached tomorrow's match.

The gap between the Munster final and this weekend has been six weeks. Unlike two years ago when the team were wrapped in cotton wool, the players were allowed back to their clubs for a couple of weeks.

In another departure, there were curtailed celebrations after the Munster final victory. Instead of a lengthy, county-wide exposition there was a comparatively low-profile homecoming in Waterford city - acknowledgement that the job was only half done.

The next step is unknown territory, according to Tommy Dunne: "Results have shown them to be a better side but it remains to be seen if they're good enough to win an All-Ireland. They have to perform in Croke Park and, until they do, you'd have to reserve judgment. They won Munster in 2002 and didn't play at all in the All-Ireland semi-final.

"They looked a different team to the one that took us apart (in the Munster final). I don't think they're going to disappoint like that again. There's nothing worse than going up on stage in Croke Park and not playing well. Since then they've added a couple of quality players but more importantly they've a huge amount of experience.

"Most of them have won two Munster finals and some of them have been through a couple of semi-finals that weren't a good experience. The longer you go without winning, you can either give in or use it to your advantage.

"Look at the way they played in the Munster final. That game has to be hugely significant, beating Cork with only 14 men. They finished well and played consistently."

After last year's big win over Fermanagh in the football quarter-final, Tyrone manager Mickey Harte said that he was pleased with the display but had to emphasise that his team still hadn't done anything that they hadn't already done before.

Waterford this weekend know that feeling. The challenge is to maintain the performance levels and application that won a provincial campaign that brought them to Croke Park.

On the banks of the Rubicon the choice is simple: Rome or home.