Leinster SHC Final Is the Leinster championship in crisis? With Kilkenny heavily expected to retain dominion across the province, the lack of oomph in the competition seems to contrast poorly with its Munster counterpart, which defied all guesses this summer.

Wexford and Kilkenny or Kilkenny and Offaly. It seems the story is getting stale.

"Not at all," responds Wexford manager John Conran. "It's certainly fantastic for us to be back in a Leinster final and I know there are a lot of people here in the county looking forward to this game.

"We honestly feel that it still has as much to offer as the Munster championship in that there are three realistic contenders every year. Now it just so happens that we are in the midst of a brilliant era for Kilkenny hurling and they have dominated Leinster, unquestionably. But it also has to be pointed out that their power has not been confined to the province and that they have swept teams aside at All-Ireland level also and have the potential to do so again."

It is a fair point. Perhaps instead of lamenting the general decline of east coast hurling, it would be fairer to acknowledge the sensational performances Brian Cody's Kilkenny have generated.

Since the upset in the 2001 All-Ireland semi-final, they have redefined the standards of excellence the elite counties have imposed upon themselves.

The evidence is that last year's All-Ireland final has not sated them. Through their league endeavours and documented selection policy, Kilkenny have attempted to negate post-September bluntness.

Conran admits that the threat they pose in this final is every bit as formidable as it was a year ago.

"I think that Brian Cody has done a fantastic job there, particularly in terms of the consistently great games that Kilkenny teams seem able to draw upon.

"Everyone knows how demanding any one season is on players now, four and five nights a week and seasons getting longer - to be able to carry that on from one year to the next is some achievement."

The last time the teams met, at the close of the league, they played out a thrilling draw in Nowlan Park. Although it was pleasing to leave Kilkenny City with something substantial, Conran felt the home team was in a relaxed frame of mind, having already qualified for the league final.

He was not surprised Kilkenny went on to retain the league and, despite their long lay-off from competitive hurling, he anticipates they will be lean and sharp tomorrow. Not that he believes Wexford will not win. 1996 established a frame around which they have bounced ever since, dipping and rising again.

Their fight has been consistent, however, and they demonstrated that again against Offaly last month. Trailing 0-6 to 1-10 at half-time, they won what was an important semi-final for both counties by a single point. As ever, it was a performance based around the lingering influences of 1996 and younger players like Darren Stamp and Rory Jacob.

"In one way, 1996 will always matter in that it took us out of the wilderness," says Conran. "We still have five or six players from that All-Ireland side on the team and their importance is inestimable.

"To the younger players, that final would have been something they attended with their friends or families and it would have had a massive impact on them as it did on us all."

But, realistically, 1996 matters now only as an afterglow. Wexford are a very different team and although they retained the Leinster championship in 1997, since then it has belonged to Kilkenny.

With a decade of minor successes also behind them, the popular interpretation is not of a cyclical Kilkenny dynasty but of a permanent force that challengers like Wexford are not capable of matching.

"Well, they certainly have been unstoppable at minor level, but that hasn't always materialised at the under-21 grade. I mean, we have won four of those titles and those successes have provided us with a significant number of good young players.

"We have also just started working with development squads here in the county and we are confident that in the years ahead we will field teams capable of matching the best in the game."

Tomorrow, they will attempt to do just that. The departure of Charlie Carter cast a shadow across Camelot. His retirement, however, followed by that of Brian McEvoy, means the All-Ireland champions do not have quite so much depth.

As ever, limiting Henry Shefflin will be uppermost in Wexford's concerns. "Just a phenomenal hurler that keeps getting better," admits Conran. "But we feel we have a superb player of our own in Declan Ruth and, yeah, certainly that is going to be a critical area of the field."

But, in all sectors, Wexford players will have to operate at their optimum. The inclusion of Darragh Ryan at number 11 in the hope of containing Peter Barry, living with DJ, controlling the combustible presence of Martin Comerford; there are no givens.

In addition, the immediate recovery of Paul Codd is something Wexford will have to pray for.

"Yeah, it is not going to be easy, no Leinster final is," acknowledges Conran. "But it is the game we have been looking forward to playing in."