Leinster SHC Final/Wexford v Offaly: For the first time this decade an air of expectation has settled on the Guinness Leinster hurling final.

Kilkenny's unexpected fall has opened up the provincial title for a change of ownership for the first time in seven years. Naturally the team that deposed the champions have been installed as favourites but Wexford have enough history with Offaly to make them wary of presuming too much.

In fact never mind history. As one Wexford observer described the current mood in the county: "They've gone from not being given a chance before the Kilkenny game to Leinster champions before the final's been played."

We can assume that manager John Conran won't have too much difficulty keeping feet on the ground given the brickbats hurled at the team during an awful league campaign. And keeping feet on the ground has been the tactical centre of the approach that yielded such rich pickings three weeks ago.

Jim Kilty's SAQ (speed, agility, quickness) programme enabled the team to play at pace throughout the semi-final. New arrivals Eoin Quigley, formerly a soccer player with National League club Bohemians, and Paul Carley, previously a county footballer, slotted into the quick-moving scheme.

The speed of players and ball that unhinged Kilkenny may have to be reviewed tomorrow. Offaly are traditionally more of a ground hurling team and, with the players currently at their disposal, have little choice in the matter anyway.

Wexford can vary their attack, with both Larry Murphy and Paul Codd on the bench, should they wish to play some high ball of the type that so discomfited Cork in last year's drawn All-Ireland semi-final.

Otherwise we can probably expect more of the same. The "horses for courses" theory rarely holds when a particular horse has been spectacularly successful around a course. Wexford's initial success was in keeping their progress under wraps.

Locals had an inkling. Liam Spratt, South East FM's hurling commentator, was extremely impressed by the team's challenge against Galway, played over four 20-minute quarters. The broadcaster said: "They were playing a different kind of hurling and absolutely destroyed Galway."

There was more to the win than tactics. For the first time in years Adrian Fenlon's primary asset of being able to move ball quickly along the ground was exploited to the full. Fenlon's form and that of Declan Ruth gave the team an ideal platform down the middle.

Offaly are as happy as Wexford to see Kilkenny gone and will expect to be able to cope with fast hurling but the question marks don't end there. ...

A year ago Offaly lost a big half-time lead to Wexford in the Leinster semi-final. Wexford are in better form now - even allowing that one good win doesn't transform them overnight - than they were that day whereas we can't be sure about Offaly.

Their matches against Laois and Dublin were very comfortably negotiated but Offaly realise that those games didn't tell them anything about themselves they didn't already know.

Down the centre they are improvising. Ger Oakley is dogged and has at times been unjustly maligned but he is a manufactured full back in a match where positional sense is likely to be crucial.

Brian Whelahan in his pomp stayed out of centre back but fills in now, knowing there is no option.

At centrefield Michael Cordial and Barry Whelahan won't dominate the match whereas Gary Hanniffy is struggling with his form and his brother Rory is named at centre forward, although it's hard to imagine that Offaly's most gifted forward is going to be required to break ball for his colleagues all afternoon.

Haunting Wexford is the spectre of their inconsistency. They have been unable to put good displays back-to-back in recent years. Offaly have the wherewithal to take advantage of this if they play to potential.

The evidence in front of us, however, is that Wexford have knuckled down to a clever game-plan and worked hard at implementing it. Offaly have yet to perform at that level. So we'll go with what we know.

OFFALY: B Mullins; B Teehan, G Oakley, D Franks; Brian Whelahan, N Claffey, C Cassidy; M Cordial, Barry Whelahan; R Hanniffy, G Hanniffy, J Brady; B Carroll, B Murphy, D Murray.

WEXFORD: D Fitzhenry; M Travers, D Ryan, D O'Connor; R McCarthy, D Ruth, J O'Connor; A Fenlon, T Mahon; B Lambert, E Quigley, P Carley; M Jordan, M Jacob, R Jacob.

Referee: G Harrington (Cork).