THE sound of empires falling: it's only June 3rd and already Cork and Kilkenny have been evicted from the first round of the Guinness hurling championship. Kilkenny's defeat by Wexford mightn't have been as eviscerating as that suffered by Cork last week, but it was nearly as dispiriting.

Three points separated the sides at the final whistle, but bear in mind the recent history between the counties and the match assumes far greater importance than suggested by that narrow margin.

Wexford haven't beaten Kilkenny in the championship since 1988, despite having met them four times in the intervening years. That sequence of defeats included the ghost of 1993, when they went within seconds of taking the Leinster title but still lost.

No wonder then, that manager Liam Griffin drove home the point afterwards. His team had won a daunting match and survived a menacing looking Kilkenny comeback in the second half. The great thing about today was that Kilkenny came back at us and we came back at them and that's the first time we've done that in a long time. So give us credit, lads, in fairness. Give us credit," he instructed the attendant journalists.

There's no denying them credit on that account. Wexford started the match looking sharper and held their nerve when Kilkenny looked like imposing this fixture's normal conventions by cutting a five point interval deficit to one. The winning captain, Martin Storey - who had a marvellous match - said the difference between yesterday and three years ago was one of luck: his team had it yesterday but not three years ago.

In this, he was being both a little modest and misleading. Kilkenny are only a wraith of the side that last won the All Ireland but Wexford actually had little enough luck yesterday. Storey himself was on one occasion inches wide of the goal whereas Adrian Fenlon and Billy Byrne hit the woodwork when going for goals; the team's success was based on greater passion and deeper reserves of spirit.

It is only fair to point out that Kilkenny's preparations were about as cursed as they could be. DJ Carey looked out of sorts from the moment the match started and students all around the country will be hoping that they can pass tests with as little apparent justification as DJ, who came through a fitness check on Friday evening.

Manager Nicky Brennan paid tribute to Kilkenny's medical back up that they had contrived to get wing forward John Power fit enough to play the second half even though he was unable to start the match as listed because of a flu bug. Derek Gaffney came in at the start, with Michael Phelan dropping back to the wing and Carey moving in to full forward.

This fractured build up to the match showed, as did all the other nagging questions that have bedevilled Kilkenny in the past year. Apart from a splendid display by Willie O'Connor at left corner back and some gutsy midfield work from both Aidan Lawlor and Canice Brennan, who between them bagged six points - and a strong initial impact from Power on his introduction - the team never got a grip on proceedings.

Wexford, however, sprinkled some good performances around the field. At the back, Damien Fitzhenry fully justified the decision to move him back to goal keeping duties. He radiated confidence under the high ball and returned great booming clearances.

In front of Fitzhenry, Sean Flood was inspirational in both his marking and his spirited bursts up the field. The half back line was immense, Rod Guiney particularly so with a fiery attention to detail that gave his markers no room but also fuelled some great clearing runs.

Midfield was also notable for its work in maintaining momentum and when that faded in the second half, Griffin simply replaced the personnel. Rory McCarthy had to go off with an injury, Adrian Fenlon was moved to centre forward and Storey and the veteran George O'Connor dropped back to the centre.

Storey had been the main provider up front, no more strikingly than in a three minute phase, from the 23rd minute, when he opened up the first significant gap on the scoreboard. Shooting on the run from distances of up to 80 metres, Wexford's captain drilled over three points to push the margin from 0-5 to 0-8, to Kilkenny's 0-3. He ended the afternoon with five points from play.

The real match was played out in the final quarter. Kilkenny, led by Power, harnessed the wind after half time and dragged the margin back to a point, 0-8 to 0-9. The result was now on the line and Wexford looked as if they could lose their nerve. Having scored their first second half point, through Larry O'Gorman, Storey and Famonn Scallan dropped shots short in quick succession.

Then came the switches. Storey re emerged as a primary influence from midfield and Fenlon gave a fine cameo at centre forward, scoring two points and setting up the decisive goal. By that stage Wexford had stared their demons in the eye and re established control of the match. It was 0-13 to 0-9 going into the 59th minute.

Billy Byrne had been sent on to replace young Gary Laffan. According to Griffin, they thought he might be able to win a couple of high balls. He did. Fenlon put in a high delivery and Byrne rose for it and finished to the net. Were it not for Wexford's track record, the crowd would have been leaving at that stage.

On this occasion, however, Kilkenny weren't up to the challenge of staging one of those stunning, heart breaking finishes - and anyway, Wexford weren't going to let them. The losers managed to trim the deficit, but even then, some of the late decision making was a little flaky, with goals being sought from frees when points still offered a possible escape.

John Power blew an injury time free by hacking at an encroaching O'Gorman and causing referee Aodan Mac Suibhne to book him and revise the award to a throw in. Moments later, it was over and Wexford celebrated a long overdue and thoroughly merited victory.